Soft Infrastructure is currently defined as:
"A reference that refers to all the institutions, which are required to maintain the health, cultural and social standards of a country, state or sometimes even a company"
This can be interpreted in a variety of ways, however when I use the term soft infrastructure I am referring to the ability of design through natural resources to protect, defend and connect the coastal cities waterfront.
There are already existing natural soft infrastructures that work. In tropical zones Mangrove forests exist between the coast and sea to help reduce erosion and effects of storm surges and flooding. In temperate zones the mangrove equivalent is the tidal wetlands or salt marshes. In New Zealand these are numerous and the hardy New Zealand coastal vegetation is very successful at protecting the coast from the sea.
Tidal wetlands are a excellent tool for creating soft infrastructure as they work on a number of levels:
- Next to tropical rain forests, tidal wetlands are the most biologically productive resource in the world
- Wetlands also improve water quality acting as natural filters, reduce turbidity, trap nutrients and buffer storm and wave energy.
- Tidal wetlands stabilizes shorelines and buffers erosion.
Using tidal wetlands as an element that can interact between the city and water community, I think a very successful relationship can occur using this type of soft infrastructure to improve the coastal city.
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