Rebuild by Design Competition Winners Announced: Federal Government Awards Almost $1Billion to Prote
If you think the New York metropolis and other major seaside cities are doomed due to the sea level rise and future super storms, think again. Just as other cities like Venice and Rotterdam, which had to mitigate sea levels and storm surges, NYC and its environs are rising to the occasion. (Pun intended).
An initiative of the President’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, the Rebuild by Design Competition was launched in 2013 in response to the massive devastation caused by Super Storm Hurricane Sandy which ravaged the eastern seaboard of the USA in October 2012. The competition asked ten interdisciplinary design teams comprised of architects, landscape architects, engineers and urban designers to design ways to protect our coastline.
Since June 2013, these design teams have been working with a diverse range of stakeholders throughout the Sandy-affected regions to develop innovative solutions to ensure that the rebuilding of the fragile coastlines and their ecosystems, as well as the urban infrastructure, can withstand any future catastrophic events that Mother Nature may send our way. On June 2nd, Secretary Shaun Donovan of HUD announced the six winning proposals which in total will receive almost $1 billion to implement strategies to make our coastline more resilient and prepared for potential sea level rising and storm surges.
The six winning proposals offer a wide range of brilliant solutions to improve the resilience of infrastructure in the Sandy-affected areas, including the damaged shorelines of New York City, New Jersey and Long Island. These solutions include: a necklace of living breakwaters on Staten Islan; micro-grid islands and a maritime emergency supply strategy in Hunts Point, the Bronx; permeable pavement, rain gardens, bio-swales and new wetlands in Hoboken New Jersey; a meadow park, berms and marshes, offreing flood protection in the Meadowlands in New Jesrsey; new marsh islands and seaside protective landscapes on Long Island; and storm surge protection around Manhattan including berms, and deployable walls which can flip down under the FDR Drive to stop inland flooding.
It's exciting to see so many smart, talented professionals working together to make sure the New York City region remains the vital, vibrant Metropolis it has become.
