Join us on September 19, 2025 for the 2025 Smart Coast Summit – Coastal Bend Vision 2050, hosted by the University of Texas at Arlington’s Smart Coast Initiative. This transformative event brings together visionaries, experts, and stakeholders to address the Coastal Bend’s biggest challenges. The summit will explore innovative solutions and actionable strategies to shape a sustainable and resilient future. Join us as we chart a mid-century course toward a more resilient and smart Coastal Bend for generations to come. Be inspired by best-practice examples successfully applied in other cities as we showcase methods and approaches to address our region’s most pressing issues.
Please RSVP here.
Vision
As we gather at the 2025 Smart Coast Summit, our aim is to draft a vision of the Coastal Bend as a Smart Coast.
In becoming a Smart Coast, the Texas Coastal Bend integrates human experience, natural systems, and technology & design to co-create adaptive solutions that ensure the sustainability and resilience of the region’s resources and communities for generations to come.
– Smart Coast Initiative
Goals
The 2025 Smart Coast Summit is structured into two key segments: together, we will “Tackle the Status Quo” and “Chart a Mid-Century Vision.”
During the Tackle the Status Quo sessions, participants will identify the Coastal Bend’s key assets and challenges, exploring tangible strategies to address them. In the afternoon, the Chart a Mid-Century Vision sessions will focus on co-creating an initial step toward a regional vision for 2050. This will include discussions on smart infrastructure, resilient environmental systems, and forward-thinking planning while aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, laying out a roadmap for the region’s future.
Goals for the 2025 Smart Coast Summit – Coastal Bend Vision 2050:
- Identify Coastal Assets and Challenges
What are the key strengths and vulnerabilities of the Coastal Bend’s environment, economy, and community?
Assess the Coastal Bend’s environment, economy, and community resilience by examining its strengths and vulnerabilities. This includes understanding urban design, planning, hazards, emergency management challenges, and the role of data and technology in addressing these issues. This evaluation will lay the foundation for co-creating adaptive solutions. - Explore Tangible Strategies to Action
Which actionable strategies can address hazards and enhance emergency management in the Coastal Bend?
Investigate actionable strategies that focus on solutions to address hazards, enhance emergency management, and guide policy development, while improving the region’s environment and capacity to adapt to climate change and resource pressures. - Chart a Vision for 2050
How can the Texas Coastal Bend integrate human experience, natural systems, and technology & design to co-create adaptive solutions that ensure the sustainability and resilience of the region’s resources and communities for generations to come?
Develop an initial step toward a regional vision for the Coastal Bend by focusing on smart infrastructure, resilient environmental systems, and forward-thinking planning, while aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), and SDG 13 (Climate Action), to create a roadmap for the region’s future through 2050.
Location
American Bank Center Corpus Christi, 1901 N Shoreline Blvd, Corpus Christi, TX 78401
Schedule
Friday, September 19, 2025
09:30am – 12:30pm Morning Session: Tackle the Status Quo
01:30pm – 05:00pm Afternoon Session: Chart a Mid-Century Vision
| Time | Activity |
| Tackle the Status Quo (Morning Sessions) | |
| 9:30am – 9:45am | Registration and Welcome Coffee Welcome coffee and light refreshments Registration and networking |
| 9:45am – 10:00am | Opening Remarks Introduction to the summit’s goals and objectives Overview of the schedule and session topics Details on the Smart Coast Initiative |
| 10:00am – 10:45am | Session 1 – Infrastructure & Environment Session Host: Dr. Oswald Jenewein Introduction to session and goals Panelist presentations (5-7 minutes each) Bob Paulison Executive Director, Coastal Bend Industry Association Mary Afuso Director of Economic Development, Coastal Bend Council of Governments Lauren Hutch Williams Resilient Coast Program Director, The Nature Conservancy Stephanie Rogers Senior Coastal Engineer, Stantec Q&A and interactive discussion |
| 10:45am – 11:00am | Break |
| 11:00am – 11:45am | Session 2 – Hazards & Emergency Management Session Host: Dr. Karabi Bezboruah Introduction to session and goals Panelist presentations (5-7 minutes each) Dee Hawkins Director, Office of Emergency Management & Risk Management, Nueces County Randy Wright City Manager, City of Portland Jace Johnson Emergency Management, City of Corpus Christi Mike Griffin Emergency Management, Texas State Aquarium Q&A and interactive discussion |
| 11:45am – 12:30pm | Session 3 – Data & Technology Session Host: Dr. Michelle Hummel Introduction to session and goals Panelist presentations (5-7 minutes each) Sharon Bailey Murphy Executive Director, Coastal Bend Air Quality Partnership Jeff Pollack Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer, Port of Corpus Christi Payton Campbell Air and Water Monitoring Coordinator, Coastal Watch Association Hua Zhang Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Q&A and interactive discussion |
| 12:30pm – 1:30pm | Lunch Break Networking lunch Informal discussions |
| Chart a Mid-Century Vision (Afternoon Sessions) | |
| 1:30pm – 1:45pm | Introduction of the Keynote Speaker |
| 1:45pm – 2:45pm | Keynote Speaker Jasper Hugtenburg, Landscape Architect H+N+S Landscape Architects, Netherlands |
| 2:45pm – 3:15pm | Panel Discussion with Session Leaders and Keynote Speaker Summary of key findings and action plans Audience Q&A and final thoughts |
| 3:15pm – 3:30pm | Break Afternoon coffee |
| 3:30pm – 4:45pm | Community Workshop Synthesizing feedback from morning sessions Breakout groups focusing on specific challenges and solutions Facilitated discussions to develop actionable strategies Aligning local strategies with global sustainability frameworks |
| 4:45pm – 5:00pm | Closing Remarks Future outlook and next steps |
| End | |
Keynote Speaker
Jasper Hugtenburg is a senior landscape architect, geomorphologist and design teacher, with over 20 years of experience in the fields of landscape architecture, water management and ecology. As an associate partner of H+N+S Landscape Architects, he is responsible for initiating and leading mostly interdisciplinary projects with an emphasis on sustainable landscape development. During his long-standing career at H+N+S Landscape Architect he has enjoyed several sabbaticals working at the Zürich office of VOGT, ARK Rewilding Netherlands and the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture of the University of British Columbia.
Jasper has led prestigious and award-winning projects like the Landscape and Energy book publication (2014), the winning entry for the 2015 EO Wijers competition titled S3H-BTK, the 2016 IABR exhibition center piece 2050 – An Energetic Odyssey, the much published cross-border water retention plan for the Geul River (2022) and the winning entry for the 2023 EO Wijers competition titled Tweestromenland. He is currently leading regional scale research by design projects concerning the application of nature based solutions for coastal squeeze and sea level rise in the Fraser River and the Rhine-Meuse deltas.
“What is often referred to as the coastline is not a strict boundary between the land and the sea, but rather a dynamic gradient between terrestrial and aquatic ecologies. Understanding the potential qualities for human occupation of the many habitats within the coastal zone is key to developing a resilient and attractive coastal landscape.” – Jasper Hugtenburg
H+N+S is a Dutch landscape architecture firm that functions as a design laboratory focussed on innovation through research by design. Leading the field of landscape architecture for 35 years now, H+N+S has won many prestigious prizes and awards, and has published extensively about their work. H+N+S approaches the landscape as an interactive, layered system and takes site specific landscape-forming processes such as soil formation, hydrology and socio-economic development as a starting point for developing carefully designed interventions. H+N+S is widely regarded as an authority on multidisciplinary regional design processes, with a focus on resilient urban deltas. In the Netherlands, H+N+S initiated innovative strategies for river and coastal management, resulting in the Room for the River and Sand Engine projects. In recent years, H+N+S has developed similar strategies in the US for post Katrina New Orleans and post Sandy New York.
Photo credits: Dutch aerial photographer Siebe Swart