Dutch Dialogue Region E7

The Dutch Dialogue is a study of elevations across the entirety of Charleston South Carolina. This portion of the data covers a small subset of the region located East of the Wando River. The map examines a variety of elevations in feet above sea level. There are four categories of classification used to describe the variety of elevations. The four basic categories are Wet Zones (0-6 ft.), Ecological Zones (6-10 ft.), Transitional Zones (10-15 ft.), and Community Zones (≥15 ft.).

Wet Zone - Parties in this region are advised to retreat with great haste

Ecological Zone- Parties in this region should raise the elevation of current structures and should NOT build new ones.

Transition- It is okay to build in this region but the structure need to be built at high elevations. Structures in this section should also use strategies to raise their elevation (stilts).

Community- These regions are in the clear and are thus welcomed to be built upon.

We further subdivided the data into fully interactive parcels. Each parcel contains geographic information, ownership, and many other interesting pieces of data. The most powerful tool that the parcel data gives us is the percent of the land that falls within the previously mentioned categories. (Wet, Ecological, Transitional, And Community)

The information provided in the data is troublesome because areas that are within the "Wet" regions are in danger of being flooded in the near future. In fact even the areas in the the "Ecological" regions need to be built up in preparation for the rise in sea level. Pictured in gray are the all of the of land that exist within parcels containing 75% land designated as not suitable for habitation. All of these areas are classified as areas where retreat will become mandatory as time goes on.

The data goes one step further and is also able to provide data on buildings that are in areas that are in danger zones (75% Wet). This map provides a comparison between what homes are considered safe by modern standards and those that will be at risk in the near future. The homes pictured in bright green are those that are within the three acceptable zones. Those pictured in yellow, orange, and red are those at increasingly large risk.

The only concluding remarks to be made are that the increase in sea level comes at a dire cost to people homes. In the near future there are many places in Charleston that will be flooded. The best time to have taken precautions to minimize the damages what 50 years ago, the second best time is now!