Smart Coastal Summit

Through our contacts with the architectural firm of Snøhetta, H+N+S Landscape Architects was invited by the University of Texas at Arlington to give the keynote lecture at this year’s Smart Coast Summit, held on September 19, 2025, in Corpus Christi, Texas. In his lecture, Jasper Hugtenburg took the participants on a tour along some of our office’s smart coastal development projects, such as the Sand Motor, the New Orleans water plan and the ‘Tweestromenland’ vision for the Rhine-Meuse estuary. The lecture set the stage for a plenary discussion in which the first steps were taken towards developing a mid-century vision for the Texas Coastal Bend, where Corpus Christi has a partnership with the city of Rotterdam. Jasper also gave a lecture for faculty staff and students at UT Arlington and took part in an excursion to the Corpus Christi Bay. This revealed interesting contrasts between on the one hand a beautiful natural scenery with pelicans, dolphins, and sea turtles, and on the other hand the ever-expanding petrochemical industry of the world's third-largest energy port.