Read the Full Thesis
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Introduction — What Happened
Dedication & Acknowledgements
Dedication to the Island of Maui and affected communities worldwide.
Abstract
Thesis scope, methods, and broader implications for disaster-resilient urbanism.
Research Questions & Hypotheses
Five primary questions framing the investigation into Lahaina's recovery.
Background — Context & Precedents
Key Terms & Definitions
Core terminology used throughout the thesis, including Hawaiian language terms.
Resilience Drivers - Global Precedents
How post-disaster recovery has failed and succeeded in New Orleans and Kobe, and what transfers to Lahaina.
Community Anchors - Node-Based Urbanism
How distributing essential functions across multiple nodes prevents simultaneous loss and serves both daily life and crisis response.
Literature Review & Research Methodology
Theoretical frameworks informing the thesis and the iterative multi-scalar design methodology.
Analysis — Understanding the Land
History of Lahaina
From royal capital to tourism economy, key spatial events that shaped the town.
Environmental Analysis
Water systems, rainfall patterns, streams, and sea level rise projections for West Maui.
Zoning & Land Use
How Lahaina's land use patterns concentrated vulnerability and complicate recovery.
The Water Crisis
Stage 2 water shortage, aquifer designation, and the infrastructure blocking Lahaina's recovery.
Pioneer Mill Water Infrastructure
Historic ditch systems, aquifer designation, and the water crisis blocking Lahaina's recovery.
The 2023 Wildfire - Cause, Spread, and Damage
How the August 2023 wildfire ignited, spread through Lahaina, and exposed systemic infrastructure failures.
Disaster Gentrification & Equitable Recovery
How post-disaster recovery can displace the communities it's meant to serve, and policy mechanisms to prevent it in Lahaina.
Cultural Heritage & Preservation
Lahaina's cultural significance, the Moku'ula restoration, and how Hawaiian identity shapes the recovery framework.
Approach — Design Principles
Multi-Scalar Diagnostic
A framework analyzing Lahaina from regional to neighborhood scale to identify intervention points.
The Four-Buffer Framework
Coastal, riparian, peri-urban, and water collection zones forming the backbone of the recovery plan.
Proposed Systems - Water, Green Infrastructure, and Mobility
Integrated urban systems connecting water capture, green corridors, and a new mobility network.
Street-by-Street Mobility Design
Detailed design for each corridor: the New Boulevard, Coastal Promenade, Lahaina Luna Avenue, Kahoma Boulevard, and Wainee Street.
Water System - Zone by Zone
The five water capture and distribution zones from mountain hinterland to coast, with specific strategies for each.
The Plan — Recovery & Rebuilding
Redensification & Community Hubs
A plan for 2,200 new housing units within a walkable core, anchored by three community hubs.
Design Interventions
Key sites including the elementary school, Banyan Tree civic space, and coastal promenade.
The Module System
A 26x26-foot building module using Hawaiian construction traditions, water capture, and solar response.
Elementary School - Architecture & Program
The mat-building precedents, program requirements, floor plan logic, and emergency conversion design for the Lahaina elementary school.
Module Assembly & Aggregation
How the 26x26-foot module connects, clusters, and grows, the architectural grammar of recovery.
Three District Typologies
Boulevard District, Riparian Edge District, and Coastal Edge District, how housing character varies across the recovery zone.
Community Hub Operations
How the three community hubs function daily and convert to emergency facilities, program details, accessibility, and dual-use design.
Results & Discussion
Evaluating the recovery framework against the five hypotheses and assessing feasibility, scalability, and limitations.
Contribution & What's Next
How this thesis advances post-disaster urbanism and what remains to be done for Lahaina's recovery.