This article was co-authored by Don Baus. 

The impacts of extreme weather are no longer a future concern; they are a present reality overwhelming infrastructure and endangering communities. Record-breaking heatwaves, wildfires, floods, and storms are pushing our built environment to its breaking point. In response, designers must lead with two complementary mindsets: resilience—the ability to withstand shocks and “bounce back”—and regeneration—the ability to restore and renew the systems that protect and sustain us.

UNDERSTANDING TODAY’S CLIMATE RISKS 

Extreme weather refers to events such as storms, floods, droughts, heat waves, or wildfires that go beyond what has historically been considered “normal” for a given region. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines these as statistically rare events—the top or bottom 10% of what has been observed over a long-term record.¹ This means storms dumping far more rainfall or snowfall than average, heat waves lasting longer than any previously recorded, droughts extending well beyond a growing season, or so-called “100-year floods” now occurring every decade or less.  

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) confirms that climate extremes will increase in frequency, intensity, and duration:²  

• Near-term (to 2040): Climate extremes such as heat waves, heavy rainfall, and drought are unavoidable due to past and current emissions. 

• Mid-term (2041-2060): Without deep emission cuts, global warming is likely to exceed 2°C, triggering widespread hazards and irreversible changes. 

• Long-term (2100): Outcomes depend on action taken today. Under high emissions, temperatures could rise 3.3-5.7°C, making today’s “extreme” weather the norm, accelerating sea-level rise, and destabilizing ecosystems. 

The IPCC emphasizes that every fraction of a degree matters. The greater the warming, the more severe and frequent the events. Understanding these risks is the foundation for why resilience and regeneration are so critical.  

WHY CURRENT STANDARDS FALL SHORT 

Our built environment was designed for a climate that no longer exists. Rising seas, hotter summers, and frequent storms now strain codes and infrastructure built for the past. Events once considered “once in a lifetime” are now occurring with troubling regularity. 

The recent devastating floods across Texas and New Mexico make this reality painfully clear: more than 130 lives—many of them children—were lost, neighborhoods submerged, thousands stranded, and billions of dollars in damage left behind. 

These tragedies underscore a sobering truth: yesterday’s standards cannot protect us from today’s climate—let alone the challenges ahead. 

CLIMATE REALITY: A CLOSER LOOK AT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

In fact, Southern California offers a powerful example of how overlapping climate risks—drought, fire, and flood—complicate long-term planning and highlight the need for a design mindset that goes beyond simple resilience. 
 
In February 2023, the collapse of Goodwin & Sons Market in Crestline under record snowpack revealed the vulnerability of infrastructure to a single, overwhelming shock. Less than two years later, in January 2025, years of drought combined with powerful Santa Ana winds turned the region into a tinderbox, fueling the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires. These mega-wildfires left hillsides stripped of vegetation and unable to absorb water, setting the stage for catastrophic debris flows and mudslides. 

This cycle makes clear the limits of resilience alone. Defensive measures might protect a single building, but they cannot address cascading risks. Regenerative approaches restore entire systems—replanting watersheds, stabilizing soil, and improving water absorption—to break the destructive cycle altogether. Full ecosystem restoration can take decades to hundreds of years, and in some cases, the ecosystem may never return to its original state. 

The updated 2026 California Building Code—effective January 1, 2026—reflects this growing recognition of interconnected risks, introducing new requirements for fire protection (through adoption of the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code with California-specific amendments) and enhanced air sealing. Southern California is just one example. Cities across the country are facing similar realities. 

CLIMATE REALITY: CHARLESTON, SC: “THE WATER REMEMBERS” 

Charleston offers another vivid example. On average, the city sits about 20 feet above sea level, but in some neighborhoods that figure drops to just three feet. With every storm surge or heavy rainfall, these low-lying areas echo an old saying: “the water remembers.” In Charleston, the water remembers where the marshes once were. Generations of development filled wetlands to make way for neighborhoods and roads, but each rainstorm proves nature has not forgotten. Water seeps back, flooding streets, basements, and businesses as it follows its historic paths. 

This challenge extends well beyond Charleston’s urban core. In the rural Lowcountry, unchecked development is threatening fertile fishing grounds and salt marshes that families have depended on for generations. As expansion erodes these natural buffers, the landscapes that once absorbed floodwaters and supported livelihoods are disappearing—leaving both ecosystems and communities increasingly vulnerable. 

For designers, Charleston shows why risk management must evolve: extreme weather is not an occasional disruption but a permanent design condition. Addressing it requires moving beyond defensive measures toward proactive, regenerative strategies that align with today’s climate realities. And the problem isn’t limited to storms: in Charleston, “sunny day” flooding during unusually high King Tides regularly inundates streets—even when there is no rain.  

DESIGNING WITH—NOT AGAINST—NATURAL SYSTEMS 

Designing for climate resilience means working in concert with ecosystems that have protected regions for centuries. Nature offers proven models of defense and renewal—if we learn from them and translate those lessons into design. 

Oyster reefs dissipate wave energy while supporting biodiversity. Marshlands slow and absorb floodwaters while filtering pollutants. Yet these systems alone can no longer keep pace with today’s intensifying climate. The challenge for designers is to extend and amplify what they already do well. 

Hybrid strategies build on these principles: barriers that echo the form and function of oyster reefs, stormwater systems that mimic marshes, and floodable public spaces modeled after floodplains.  

In Charleston, restoring wetlands where the Ashley and Cooper Rivers converge not only protects communities but also revitalizes critical habitats. Instead of building higher walls to keep nature out, regenerative design asks: What if the best defense is learning to flow with it? 

THE CHALLENGE OF THE EXISTING BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Designing new construction for climate resilience is challenging enough, but adapting the vast stock of existing buildings is an even greater hurdle. In Charleston, for example, new construction is often elevated above flood levels through “freeboard” requirements. While this approach helps protect future development, it poses a dilemma for historic neighborhoods, where raising existing structures is prohibitively expensive and could compromise the architectural character and human scale of beloved streetscapes. 

To guard against future flooding and storm surges, Charleston is moving forward with a $1 billion sea wall around the historic peninsula. However, it runs the risk of exacerbating flooding in lower-income neighborhoods further north as the water seeks other paths. While these areas don’t carry the exact enormous economic cost as the historic peninsula, we cannot ignore the potential crisis posed by rising waters—nor can we afford to worsen the problem. 

California offers an instructive precedent. Following devastating earthquakes in the early 20th century, the state enacted the Field Act, which mandated seismic retrofits for schools.³ By aligning policy, funding, and design standards, California systematically strengthened vulnerable structures and created safer communities. The question now is: what lessons can we carry forward for climate adaptation? 

A similar model for climate-sensitive regions could combine: 

Policy and Standards 

• Mandatory Upgrades: Require retrofits for the most at-risk structures, such as those in floodplains or the Wildland-Urban Interface. 

• Performance-Based Codes: Move beyond prescriptive rules toward codes that require buildings to withstand defined climate events. 

• Forward-Looking Standards: Base codes not just on historic data, but also on projected sea-level rise, rainfall intensity, and heat. 

• Historic Preservation: Develop guidelines that retrofit historic buildings without erasing their cultural or architectural identity. 

Funding and Incentives 

• Dedicated Funding: Create stable, long-term funding streams—such as state bonds—for large-scale retrofits. 

• Financial Incentives: Provide tax credits, grants, or low-interest loans to encourage voluntary upgrades. 

• Market Mechanisms: Partner with insurers and financiers to reward resilience through lower premiums and favorable lending terms. 

Design and Collaboration 

• Innovative Solutions: Invest in new materials and methods that are both historically sensitive and climate-resilient (e.g., passive cooling, advanced flood barriers). 

• Knowledge Sharing: Establish platforms to share best practices, research, and case studies across the design and construction industries. 

Together, these steps would create a systematic approach to upgrading the existing built environment—one that balances safety, cost, and cultural preservation while preparing communities for an unpredictable climate future. 

PRACTICAL RETROFITTING STRATEGIES FOR EXISTING BUILDINGS FOR EXTREME CLIMATE RISK 

Retrofitting is essential to help existing buildings withstand extreme climate risks. Effective strategies must integrate the structure, its systems, and its power infrastructure to avoid cascading failures during disruptive events. 

Wildfire Mitigation 
Creating defensible space and hardening the building envelope are key first steps. This includes replacing combustible materials with non-combustible alternatives, installing Class A fire-rated roofing such as metal or tile, and adding fine-mesh screens on all vents to block embers. The new International Wildland-Urban Interface Code (IWUIC) provides critical guidance, and recent projects such as KB Home’s Wildfire-Resilient Neighborhood in California show how these measures can be applied at scale.⁴ 

Managing Water and Snow Loads 
As precipitation events intensify, roofs must be designed to handle greater water and snow loads. Enlarging roof drains and overflow scuppers helps prevent dangerous accumulation, while in snowy climates, installing electric heat-trace systems along roof edges can reduce the risk of ice dams. 

Flood Protection 
At ground level, thoughtful grading can serve as a simple but highly effective barrier. Ensuring that surfaces around recessed areas such as delivery docks are sloped below the building’s finished floor elevation helps divert water away and reduces flood risk. 

Protecting Critical Systems 
Mechanical and electrical systems are often the most vulnerable points of a building. FEMA recommends elevating critical equipment—such as electrical panels, HVAC units, furnaces, and water heaters—on platforms or relocating them to higher floors to avoid damage from flooding. 

Power Resilience 
Maintaining power during extreme events is vital. Backup generators or battery storage systems can ensure continuity, while rooftop solar paired with battery storage provides a sustainable solution. For critical facilities, microgrids allow buildings to disconnect from the larger grid and operate independently during outages, keeping essential services online. 

While retrofitting existing buildings is essential, resilience cannot stop at the property line. Streets, parks, and public spaces are just as critical, offering opportunities to reimagine the landscape itself as climate infrastructure. 

LANDSCAPE AS INFRASTRUCTURE: PRINCIPLES 

Public spaces and landscapes can do more than provide recreation or beauty—they can serve as vital climate infrastructure. By reimagining the design of streets, parks, parking lots, and shorelines, cities can transform the everyday urban fabric into a living network that actively manages flood, fire, and heat risks while creating healthier, more vibrant communities. 

Three principles guide this approach: 

• Multi-Benefit Design: Each element of the public realm should deliver multiple functions—flood or heat mitigation, biodiversity, social resilience, and aesthetic value. 

• Community Participation: Engaging residents in the design and stewardship of these spaces strengthens resilience, equity, and ecological health. 

• Regenerative Focus: Move beyond minimizing harm (resilience) to actively restoring ecosystems, enhancing biodiversity, and creating positive environmental cycles (regeneration). 

LANDSCAPE AS INFRASTRUCTURE: APPLICATIONS 

Opportunities exist to transform everyday urban elements into vital climate infrastructure through a multi-benefit design approach that addresses flood, heat, and fire risks while enhancing community life. This strategy moves beyond traditional engineering to integrate nature-based solutions into the urban fabric. 

Streets and Roadways 
Streets are often viewed only as conduits for cars, but they hold enormous potential to become part of the city’s climate defense system. By rethinking how they are built and planted, roads can act as filters, sponges, and reflectors—managing water, reducing heat, and cleaning the air. 

Bioswales and rain gardens can line the edges of streets, slowing stormwater, filtering pollutants, and easing pressure on traditional drainage systems—all while adding greenery that enriches neighborhoods. Permeable pavements extend this function by mimicking natural hydrology, soaking water into the ground instead of funneling it into drains. Even the pavement itself can help: reflective “cool pavement” materials lower surface temperatures, mitigating heat islands and improving pedestrian comfort. 

Parks and Public Spaces 
In the era of climate change, parks are not just escapes from city life—they are frontline infrastructure. A single park can serve as a flood basin, cooling center, and carbon sink. Floodable parks are designed to temporarily absorb stormwater during heavy rainfall before returning to recreational use. Expanding tree canopies provides shade, lowers building energy demands, and improves air quality. And in coastal cities like Charleston, restoring wetlands within parks transforms them into living sponges that buffer storm surges and filter pollutants. 

Parking Lots 
Typically vast, impervious heat sinks, parking lots can be transformed into multi-functional climate assets. Retrofitting with bioswales and infiltration zones helps manage stormwater on site. Adding shade through trees or solar carports reduces heat while producing renewable energy. Subsurface reservoirs can even store rainwater for irrigation or greywater use, turning liabilities into resources. 

Living Shorelines 
Along coasts, living shorelines provide a nature-based alternative to hard infrastructure. Oyster reefs, marsh grasses, and tidal wetlands dissipate wave energy, stabilize soil, and guard against erosion—all while enhancing biodiversity and water quality. Unlike seawalls, which degrade over time, living shorelines grow stronger as ecosystems mature, embodying the essence of regenerative design. 

DESIGNING FOR ADAPTABILITY 

In an unpredictable climate future, flexibility, modularity, and redundancy are essential principles for resilient design. The traditional model of fixed, single-purpose infrastructure is no longer sufficient to address the complex, compounding hazards communities now face—such as the fire-flood cycle seen in California. By designing systems that can shift, scale, and recover, we create environments better equipped to withstand disruption and adapt over time. 

Flexibility 
Spaces and systems that serve multiple purposes or can be easily reconfigured give communities the ability to adapt as conditions change. For example, floodable parks function as recreational amenities in normal conditions but transform into natural floodplains during heavy rainfall, protecting surrounding neighborhoods. 

Modularity 
Standardized, interchangeable components allow systems to be upgraded or repaired quickly. Decentralized approaches, such as modular microgrids, exemplify this principle. Localized power units can be added or removed as energy needs evolve, or when parts of the central grid fail—ensuring continuity without requiring a complete overhaul. 

Redundancy 
Backup systems provide critical layers of protection when primary systems fail. In essential facilities, for instance, pairing backup generators with battery storage creates multiple lines of defense, ensuring power remains available even if one system is compromised. 

Together, these principles create a design mindset that prioritizes adaptability—not just bouncing back from disruption, but preparing to pivot, evolve, and endure in a volatile climate. 

SYSTEMS, MATERIALS, AND POLICIES FOR AN ADAPTABLE FUTURE 

A truly adaptable built environment depends on three pillars: innovative systems and materials, resilient construction practices, and forward-looking policy. Together, they create the foundation for communities that can withstand disruption while evolving to meet future challenges. 

Systems and Materials 
Innovation in design and materials is essential for climate adaptation. 

• Advanced Solutions: Research and development into new techniques—such as fire-resistant coatings, advanced flood barriers, and passive cooling systems—reduce reliance on mechanical systems and prepare buildings for extreme conditions. 

• Hybrid Infrastructure: Borrowing from natural models strengthens both built and ecological systems. For example, barriers inspired by oyster reefs can dissipate wave energy, while stormwater systems designed like marshlands can absorb and filter water during heavy rains. 

• Resilient Construction: Employing Class A fire-rated materials and elevating critical systems such as electrical panels and HVAC units ensures buildings remain operational during shocks like floods or wildfires. 

Policy and Governance 
Strong policy frameworks are just as important as design innovation. 

• Updated Codes: Building codes must incorporate forward-looking climate data, ensuring construction anticipates future risks like sea-level rise and heavier rainfall. 

• Performance-Based Standards: Instead of rigid prescriptive rules, performance-based codes should require buildings to demonstrate their ability to withstand specific climate hazards. 

• Strategic Investment: Shifting funding from reactive disaster recovery to proactive regenerative design enables communities not only to survive climate shocks but to emerge stronger and healthier. 

THE VALUE PROPOSITION OF REGENERATIVE DESIGN 

For decades, resilience has been the benchmark of climate-responsive design. But resilience alone is no longer enough. At its core, regenerative design goes further. It is a systems-based approach that restores, renews, and revitalizes the very sources of energy and materials it depends on. Much like a healthy ecosystem, regenerative design doesn’t simply “use” resources—it transforms them into new cycles of value. In other words, it aims not just to minimize harm, but to actively improve the relationship between people, place, and planet. 

The benefits of this shift are tangible and multifaceted: 

• Environmental: Regenerative strategies restore habitats, improve water quality, and enhance biodiversity. 

• Social: They protect vulnerable communities, create healthier public spaces, and preserve cultural and economic lifelines such as fishing, farming, and tourism. 

• Economic: They reduce long-term maintenance costs, mitigate disaster recovery expenses, and enhance property values by making places safer, more livable, and more desirable. 

REGENERATION IN ACTION 

The value of regeneration can already be seen in practice. 

• Charleston, SC: Wetland restoration and nature-based flood buffers along the Ashley and Cooper Rivers do more than shield the city from rising tides. They also create new public spaces, strengthen fisheries, and attract eco-tourism. 

• Southern California: Across Los Angeles and Orange County, regenerative design is reshaping both buildings and landscapes. Affordable housing developments like Paseo Verde use rooftop gardens and permeable courtyards to capture and filter water, reducing flood risks and easing strain on storm drains. Master-planned communities such as Rancho Mission Viejo integrate housing with habitat conservation, preserving wildlife corridors and enhancing wildfire resilience. Large-scale initiatives like the Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan and the Emerald Necklace green infrastructure projects transform hard, urbanized landscapes into living systems—managing stormwater, mitigating extreme heat, expanding public green space, and improving overall community health. 

These examples highlight that regenerative design is not a luxury or a niche approach. It is an investment in communities that pays dividends across environmental, social, and economic dimensions. 
 
Designers have a unique opportunity and responsibility to lead this shift. By embracing regenerative principles, we can create places that do not just withstand the shocks of climate change but emerge stronger, healthier, and more connected to the natural systems that sustain them. 

DESIGN LEADERSHIP IN AN ERA OF CLIMATE EXTREMES 

The climate crisis is here. Since 1950, sea levels in South Carolina have risen 10 inches, and they are on track to climb another 11 inches by 2050. Across the country, megafires, floods, and structural failures are overwhelming infrastructure designed for a past climate. In this moment of accelerating risk, designers must lead the shift toward a regenerative, climate-resilient future. 

Resilience is the foundation. It equips buildings and communities to withstand shocks and recover quickly—through fireproofing, elevated equipment, upgraded drainage, and other defensive strategies. But resilience alone is not enough for an era defined by compounding and cascading disasters. 

Regeneration is the goal. It goes beyond survival to restore and renew the systems on which we depend—reviving watersheds, sequestering carbon, restoring wetlands, and creating cycles of value that improve both human and natural systems. 

This shift also requires leadership beyond individual projects: 

• Policy: Designers must be active voices in shaping codes and standards for a changing climate. 

• Economy: Regenerative design redirects resources away from disaster recovery toward proactive community investment. 

• Carbon: Moving beyond neutrality to carbon-negative construction is essential to reverse the drivers of climate change. 

The opportunity is clear: regenerative design delivers environmental, social, and economic benefits that strengthen communities now and for generations to come. By embracing resilience as a starting point and regeneration as the ultimate goal, designers can lead the way in creating places that not only withstand the climate crisis but emerge stronger and healthier because of it. 

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RESOURCES

1. Herring, David. “What is an ‘extreme event’? Is there evidence that global warming has caused or contributed to any particular extreme event?” https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/what-extreme-event-there-evidence-global-warming-has-caused-or-contributed ↩︎
2. Sixth Assessment Report. IPPC. https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/ ↩︎
3. State of California, “The Field Act and Public School Construction” https://ssc.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2020/08/cssc_2007-03_field_act_report.pdf ↩︎
4. KB Home. “KB Home Introduces Wildfire-Resilient Neighborhood.” https://investor.kbhome.com/company-news/news-releases/press-release-details/2025/KB-Home-Introduces-Wildfire-Resilient-Neighborhood/default.aspx ↩︎