ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the scale, scope, and future outlook for the design of "hard habitats" in urbanized marine environments and points toward the productive collaboration between marine scientists, materials research, and designers. Habitat complexity and heterogeneity are central to the recruitment and diversity of marine species. The Green Breakwater at Cleveland Harbor is a pilot project to test the viability of ecological breakwater blocks to function as marine and intertidal habitat. Given the ubiquity in coastal armoring, seawalls and breakwaters also have the greatest potential to positively impact urban marine environments. Patent innovation in hard habitats can be reduced to two main categories: systems and complex assemblages that create novel three-dimensional form to serve as habitat and/or stabilize coastal infrastructure by mitigating wave energy or reducing scouring, and material compositions or production processes that modify the chemistry or physical properties of substrates to catalyze growth of marine organisms.
