22 Distillation Guidebook Co-Lab • 9.18–9.19 2025 community organizations to understand how people were experiencing change on the ground, how flooding, tourism pressures, and housing instability were shaping daily life and long-term concerns. Design research methods were central to that process. Through a regional atlas assignment, we used mapping and visualization to situate local conditions within broader environmental and historical contexts, documenting community knowledge of coastal flooding patterns, ghost forests, and informal adaptations that were not captured in official data. The atlas allowed students and community partners to layer environmental systems with local and regional histories, making visible how climate processes, land-use change, and cultural narratives intersect over time. Through workshops and design scenarios, residents and city staff were able to see how environmental, economic, and social systems were connected spatially. That process didn’t just generate information; it created a shared understanding of place that became a foundation for dialogue and decision-making. One of the challenges municipalities often face is that research arrives in formats that are difficult to act on, lengthy reports, abstract recommendations, or timelines that don’t align with policy and funding cycles. In Apalachicola, design research helped bridge that gap by producing visual, testable ideas rather than fixed plans. Those drawings and scenarios became shared reference points that the city could use in conversations with funders, agencies, and residents. Instead of a report sitting on a shelf, the work became something people could point to, debate, adapt, and build from. Equally important was the relationshipbased nature of the partnership. This wasn’t a one-off project. Academic involvement helped provide continuity in a context where local capacity was stretched thin. The goal wasn’t to replace municipal expertise, but to support it, building local capacity and expanding what the city could imagine and advocate for over time. What struck me most in Apalachicola was how design research expanded the vision of what was possible. In a small city with limited resources and real risk, imagination can feel like a luxury. Design research created a low-risk space to explore futures that weren’t immediately feasible but were deeply meaningful to the community. That imaginative work became a critical step toward implementation, because it helped residents and leaders articulate what
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