Abstract:
Due to man-made and natural events over recent years, the salt marshes that protect Connecticut’s coastline have been severely damaged. Salt marshes protect Connecticut’s shoreline from storms and provide an irreplaceable ecosystem for the state’s entire length between New York and Rhode Island. The Connecticut state government in collaboration with shoreline organizations have developed plans to create processes to begin restoring the coastal salt marshes. Some of these proposals are considered unsightly by shoreline residents and their communities. Without their support, restoring salt marshes will be a far more difficult process. Through the use of design thinking, our thesis will propose solutions that educate communities to the vital need for salt marshes both directly and regionally, to present solutions that they will accept, and to propose ways of assessing the solutions for their efficacy once they have been implemented. The Design Thinking process combines empathy to enable deep understanding and reframing of a problem, creativity to generate insights and solutions and rationality to analyze and fit solutions to the context.
