Figure 4.11 High Water Events in Lower Manhattan

The superstorms hit massively in the coastal area of New York and New Jersey. This disaster causes parts of New York, especially in Lower Manhattan, where the project is proposed, Brooklyn and Staten Island were flooded severely, thus causing temporary paralysis of the city’s power system. Overestimated 8 million people lost electrical power access, and the outages were going for several days in a major city. Battery park recorded water surge of 13.88 ft, and seven subway tunnels under East River were flooded.

Figure 4.11 High Water Events in Lower Manhattan (NYC.gov retrieved from NOAA)

4.2.2.2 Policy and Development Plan (The East Side Coastal Resiliency

Project)

Due to the devastating aftermath of the Sandy, City of New York and the federal government of the United States have jointly funded the coastal protection project of East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) and Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency (LMCR) that aimed to reduce flood risk due to flood storm and rising sea water level.

HUD has injected a total of $511 million that includes Rebuild by Design Initiatives in addition to $305 million in capital funding committed to New York City

to start the first phase of both ESCR and LMCR projects. Through these initiatives, various stakeholders were involved in a partnership to implement the coastal flood protection system, starting with The Dryline as the winning proposal to achieve floodresiliency goal of the urban area. The City of New York published the Lower Manhattan Climate Resilience Study on March 14, 2019, as part of assessing current and future climate risk and impact on Lower Manhattan flood vulnerability.

Figure 4.12 Masterplan of Lower Manhattan Climate Resilience Study (NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), 2019)

The proposal seeks to achieve a flood protective system around Manhattan that shall be addressed by the needs and concerns of the community. The project aimed to shield the city against flooding and stormwater surge, following the devastating occurrence of Sandy Hurricane aside from providing social and environmental benefit to the community. The community engagement profoundly influenced the design process through several public workshops. The BIG team cooperatively worked with LES Ready, an umbrella organisation of 26 community groups to conduct a series of workshop at different location of the neighbourhood.