Join UD's College of Earth, Ocean and Environment and the Mariners for an engaging presentation that explores how intentional, community-centered design can strengthen the environmental, economic and social resilience of coastal towns facing multiple challenges.

About the Presentation:

Drawing on work from the University of Delaware’s award-winning Coastal Resilience Design Studio (CRDS), this presentation highlights real-world projects across Delaware that address sea-level rise, flooding, erosion, and community disinvestment. It showcases how interdisciplinary teams of students, faculty designers, scientists, resource managers, consultants, elected officials and residences work together to research local conditions, co-create resilient solutions, and transform ideas into built outcomes.

Case studies—from beach erosion and wetland restoration to revitalized public spaces and local markets—demonstrate how creativity and design thinking can unlock innovation while honoring local heritage, culture and ecosystems. Emphasizing engagement, education, and partnerships, this presentation illustrates how empowering communities in the design process builds long-term capacity, fosters stewardship, and inspires adaptive solutions that help coastal comunities not just surivive, but thrive, in an uncertain future.

About the Speakers:

Ed Lewandowski - Coastal Communities Development Specialist

Ed is a Coastal Communities Design Specialist with the Delaware Sea Grant College Program and the coordinator of the University of Delaware's Sustainable Coastal Communities Initiative. He is also the co-founder and principal of the University's Coastal Resilience Design Studio. Ed is responsible for providing oversight and management for a variety of initiatives, including community-level land use planning, working waterfronts preservation and enhancement, economic development, government relations, public policy, open space protection, and marine recreation and tourism projects. Prior to joining the University, Ed spent 13 years with the non-profit Dealware Inland Bays National Estuary Program (Center for the Inland Bays), serving his final seven years with the organization as its Executive Director.

Ed holds a Master's degree in Organizational Leadership and obtained his undergraduate degree in Marine Biology. Ed has been appointed to a number of public commissions and councils including the Delaware Nutrient Management Commission, the Delaware Natural Areas Advisory Council, the Delaware Association of Professional Engineers, the board of directors of Sussex Habitat for Humanity, and the Delaware Parks & Recreation Council. He is also an award-winning landscape oil painter and an artist-partner at Gallery One in Ocean View, Delaware.

Zach Hammaker - Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture

Zach has been working with communities in the Delaware Valley for over a decade on design and adaptation strategies to respond to contemporary challenges of climate change and human impact, particularly in working landscapes- post-industrial, agricultural, and coastal. With his background in landscape architecture, environmental design and management, regional planning and public-private partnership development, he helps communities envision holistic futures that consider their social, economic, ecological, and cultural needs. As the Director of the Coastal Resilience Design Studio and Co-Founder of the Rural Futures Collaborative, he has expertise in participatory design and planning, engaged student scholarship, interdisciplinary collaboration, project steering, community advocacy and capacity building.