Archinect - News

New York City MTA releases 20-Year Needs Assessment plan... sans price tag

2023-10-13T12:06:00-04:00

Some 400 miles of subway tracks, half of Metro-North’s Hudson Line and several Long Island Rail Road stations are in dire need of upgrades to stave off flooding and other extreme weather exacerbated by climate change, the MTA wrote in a report published on Wednesday. The report, called the 20-year needs assessment, is a breakdown of the agency’s $1.5 trillion worth of transit infrastructure, and details which equipment planners believe most urgently needs fixing over the next two decades.

The system, which is now (finally) on a more stable financial track, needs a litany of upgrades over the next two decades, according to the breakdown. A total of 350 of the 493 elevators operated by the MTA will need to be replaced in that timeframe. Another 6,300 rail cars and 100% of all 6,000 city buses will also need to be replaced. (The full assessment can be found here.)

The findings were published in advance of a five-year construction phase that begins in 2025, though an exact price tag for the slate of fixes has yet to be established by the agency.

Another audit from the state comptroller’s office released last week indicated that the MTA has not sufficiently used money from capital improvement projects to mitigate against the effects of climate change, as was made apparent by the September 29 catastrophic rain event.

NYC's broken flood mitigation strategy comes into focus at a critical time

2023-10-03T17:56:00-04:00

The fallout from last week’s record-breaking rainstorm in New York City is shining a light on local climate mitigation efforts and water infrastructure as the increased threat from flooding becomes a major issue for Mayor Eric Adams’ administration and key city agencies.

A total of seven inches of rain fell throughout the New York metropolitan region in 24 hours Friday, inflicting particular damage to areas built over or adjacent to wetlands and other bodies of water as it overwhelmed the mass transit system and many roadways in every borough.

Beyond the torrent of viral storm footage that spread across social media, Friday’s storm provided a look at the precariousness of different resiliency projects aimed at combatting climate change, including the new Cloudburst Management plan, sewer system upgrades, and greening campaigns. Experts warn this effort could be too disjointed and expensive to make a difference before so-called "once in a hundred year" storms become regular occurrenc...

Boston rolls out new green infrastructure requirements for public works projects

2022-11-01T14:17:00-04:00

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has announced a new policy mandating the use of small-scale green infrastructure on curb extension projects throughout the city.

A set of five design standards will be introduced to help expand the adaptation and maintenance of the measures with the larger aim of improving pedestrian safety and bolstering climate resilience of the city’s crowded walkways and streetscapes.

“These new design standards will allow the City to continue enhancing our streets as public spaces for everyone,” Boston’s Chief of Streets, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, said in a statement. “These curb extensions help keep our neighborhood safe by slowing cars and making street crossing easier for pedestrians and now they can also benefit our quality of life by providing more green space in our City.”

Boston planners say the policy will eventually lead to the implementation of green infrastructure into large-scale capital projects, combining with its recently-proposed ban on fossil fuels in new ...

Monterrey, Mexico is the latest city to employ a full-time Chief Heat Officer

2022-06-17T14:45:00-04:00

In time for the start of summer, the global fraternity of Chief Heat Officers has grown as cities decide to commit themselves to full-time professionals from the subfield of public design in the face of mounting challenges caused by climate change.

The city of Monterrey, in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, recently announced architect and urban planner Surella Segú as the first-ever head of its new civic office, which is being funded through a partnership with the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock).

Surella Segú. Image courtesy Harvard University.

The 2018 Harvard Loeb Fellow is the principal and co-founder of EL CIELO, an 18-year-old practice with a focus on housing and urban renewal, and the former head of the Urban Development at the country’s Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers.

A graduate of the Columbia University GSAPP and the ITESM, she now holds the fifth official CHO title under the Council's new City Cha...

Miami’s $4 billion plan to combat sea level rise has radical urban ideas

2021-06-01T11:43:00-04:00

The City of Miami has published a draft of its Stormwater Master Plan; a $3.8 billion plan to be enacted over the next 40 years, seeking to mitigate the impact of rising sea levels on the city. The plan sets out a wide portfolio of measures, from stormwater pumps and sea walls to more novel approaches such as floating neighborhoods and streets converted into canals.

The report sets out both short and long-term strategies for the city’s defense from rising sea levels. Near-term resiliency measures, with a 20-to-50-year planning horizon, include both structural and non-structural actions, encompassing everything from infrastructure construction to reformed insurance models. The plan proposes an upgrade to building code strategies, including minimum structure finish-floor levels informed by predicted water surface levels, and a requirement for piled or stilted structures, both buildings and roadways, to consider future sea level rise.

Previously on Archinect: Rising sea levels threa...

Houston, Texas releases comprehensive plan to create a more resilient city

2020-02-20T11:29:00-05:00

On Wednesday, the city released its “Resilient Houston” strategy, a robust plan to invest in and strengthen the capabilities of neighborhoods, communities and the entire region to address, withstand and quickly recover from physical, social and economic shocks and stresses. Mayor Sylvester Turner unveiled the strategy alongside Chief Resilience Officer Marissa Aho and signed an executive order requiring all city departments to make resilience part of all strategic planning.

The new plan comes in relation to the six floods that have occurred in the region: the Memorial Day Flood in 2015, the 2016 Tax Day Flood and Hurricane Harvey in 2017. According to the Kinder Institute, the Resilient Houston plan focuses on 5 core visions:

A Healthy Place to Live
An Equitable, Inclusive and Affordable City
A Leader in Climate Adaptation
A City That Grows Up, Not Out
A Transformative Economy

These goals will be achieved through "collaborative action" and the collective efforts of groups, organization and initiatives at the neighborhood, city, and regional levels, the Kinder Institute reports. 'We are faced with a choice. Either we commit now to making the investments in our workforce and infrastructure that can prevent huge losses, or we become short-sighted and think we have plenty of time," said Mayor Turner in an address. “By choosing the latter, we will be too late.”

Boston architects create a waterfront hotel with permeable ground floor to prepare for sea level rise

2019-09-27T13:30:00-04:00

“We are building a 100-year building. We want to make sure it will last 100 years, but well beyond that,” explained William R. Halter, an architect for Elkus Manfredi, the firm behind the building’s design.

Elkus Manfredi's design for the St. Regis Residences allows the lowest floor of the 22-story luxury tower to be permanently be raised by up to five feet without disturbing the building's two-story ground-level restaurant. The design was created to allow the building to adapt to rising sea levels by plugging into a planned network of elevated streets set to rise above the area's existing roads.

The 114-unit complex is slated to be completed in 2021.

Architect Kimberly Dowdell uses her hometown of Detroit as a catalyst for teaching equitable urban design practices

2019-08-14T17:00:00-04:00

In her lecture, entitled “Diverse City: How Equitable Design and Development will Shape Urban Futures,” Dowdell drew on her experiences growing up in Detroit and her work in real estate development.

Earlier this year, architect, Detroit native, and current National Organization of Minority Architects president Kimberly N. Dowdell presented a lecture discussing the importance of equity in design and development. With her multi-disciplinary background in real estate development, education, and architecture, Dowdell explains, "equity, if I boil it down to its most essential element, is making it right,"adding, "Cities can experience trauma, and when you make it right, they can become more resilient."

Thanks to coverage of the lecture by Danielle J. Kranchalk from The Harvard Crimson, we get a view into Dowdell's presentation at Harvard GSD, which showcased her strategy for revitalizing various Detroit neighborhoods.

Her passion and commitment for creating thriving cities are marked by an approach that prioritizes what can be done to think outside the box. As Dowdell poignantly explains, "both people and cities go through cycles of trauma, equity, and resilience." She continues t...

BIG's 'Humanhattan 2050' promotes resilient design for NYC waterfront at the Venice Architecture Biennale

2018-06-20T14:40:00-04:00

Lower Manhattan could be the first to test out an innovative system that is being proposed as a way to protect cities from rising sea levels and future storms. Called “Humanhattan 2050,” a visionary idea from Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) that’s on view in the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, the project not only proposes new infrastructure to safeguard the waterfront for the next hundred years, it will also make these spaces more accessible and enjoyable.

Image via @BIGstertweets/Twitter.

Avid Archinect readers will remember the "Humanhattan 2050" scheme from its initial iteration, BIG's 2014 Rebuild by Design competition-winning proposal "The BIG U" in response to the most devastating storm ever to hit New York, Hurricane Sandy, and the need for resilient, disaster-prepared city planning.

Image via @BIGstertweets/Twitter.

"The 'Humanhattan 2050' exhibit for the Venice Architecture Biennale is a vision that expands upon BIG’s winning idea by enlarging the boundaries of Lower Manhattan with a building development created on an extension of land it cleverly calls MOMA, which is short for MOre MAnhattan," writes Paul Laster for the Observer.

Trump Administration terminates Community Resilience Panel that prepared cities for climate shock

2017-12-05T13:31:00-05:00

The Community Resilience Panel for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems was created by the Obama administration in 2015 within the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology. Its chairman, Jesse Keenan, told members at a meeting Monday that its charter was being dissolved and that meeting would be its last.

The Trump administration is pulling the plug on the Community Resilience Panel for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems—a group created in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy that helped local officials prepare for extreme weather and other natural disasters. The multi-agency organization, comprised of representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, among other federal departments, guided municipal governments and local groups to improve buildings, communications, energy systems and transportation in response to climate threats.

The two-year-old panel was the "federal government's primary external engagement for resilience in the built environment," said the panel's chairman Jesse Keenan. It is yet another federal climate-related body that has been canned by the current administration. Just back in August, the President disbanded a 15-person advisory committee that helped communicate scientific climate change findings to businesses ...

Star-studded design competition seeks to make Bay Area a model for shoreline resiliency

2017-09-13T15:55:00-04:00

San Francisco is one of the many cities in the U.S. threatened by climate change. Scientific projections predict that sea level rise is likely to push tides upwards with accelerating force in the coming decades and a 2012 study estimated that the average high tide within San Francisco Bay could be 66 inches higher by 2100.

Seeking to face the threat of rising sea levels head on, a group of community, industry and government leaders have launched a new competition in the Bay Area that seeks to restore shoreline resiliency, the phrase encompassing techniques that resist rising tides while at the same time providing ecological benefits. Think approaches like planting natural buffers such as eelgrass, which help absorb the shock of storm surges as oceans rise—a challenge that hard structures can't easily meet—while also luring water bugs, fish, birds, and shell reefs that support native oysters.

Ibises, roseate spoonbills, and egrets at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Found v...

NYC to receive $176 million in federal funds for flood-protection proposal

2016-01-22T15:25:00-05:00

[Through a national competition by the Department of Housing and Urban Development,] The money would be used to help fortify a stretch of shoreline from Montgomery Street on the Lower East Side to the northern tip of Battery Park City. Specific measures have not yet been determined, but could include adding sea walls and temporary flood walls that could be deployed before a storm, and building grass berms that could double as recreational areas.

Not to be confused with the Rebuild By Design competition-winning proposal, "The BIG U", from 2014.

When the next disaster strikes, how resilient would future-proof cities in the U.S. be?

2015-08-14T14:45:00-04:00

'There is no one size fits all approach — every region is completely different...' Hurricane Sandy underlined the urgency by ruthlessly exposing New York's structural weaknesses...California also suffered as historic droughts settled in, and the 2014 wave of winter storms terrorized the North, emphasizing that extreme conditions were here to stay and could strike anywhere. This bought the U.S. into line with the global situation.

Editor's Picks #396

2014-12-05T14:37:00-05:00

Beth Mosenthal penned an Op-Ed: Response to Michael Kimmelman's Critique of 1 WTC. She writes "I can only imagine the list of priorities that 1 World Trade entailed, but am still celebratory of the feat that it was realized despite perhaps the greatest obstacles any project could possibly have—fear and memory".

Ken Koense chose to respectfully disagree with her "The building is a touchstone for the future of large scale bunker buildings in America...which will certainly preclude the kinds of mixed use that Kimmelman's real critique addressed...Thousands died, two wars waged, but we've got our post card view, our symbol, our icon, our Freedom Tower. How picturesque". Similarly Krimson struggles "to overlook the blatant closed off nature of the project".

Plus, the latest Showcase: features Sparrenburg Visitor Center by Max Dudler, a "brutalist, rammed concrete" addition to a historic castle/fortress.

News

Paul Katz, who as president and managing principal of KPF was the mastermind of m...

The key...is not more money

2014-11-17T21:52:00-05:00

"We need to retreat, especially intellectually...from the idea that we can keep on building anywhere we want. New Yorkers are tough. They can take whatever nature throws their way. But you just can’t grow forever at the expense of the sea" - Professor Ted Steinberg

Going beyond the more well known and singular, such as U.S. HUD's Rebuild By Design competition, Alan Feuer, Greg Moyer and Melanie Burford highlight various more quotidian infrastructural and planning efforts underway. With an eye toward not just rebuilding but resilience, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Con Edison are spending approximately $1 billion (each) on resiliency improvements over the next few years. Meanwhile, initiatives such as New York Rising or the Business Resiliency Investment Program seek to build community/civic capacity. Yet, others argue that NYC will always be vulnerable, as a result of our own "environmental machismo".

Turning Boston into Venice

2014-10-27T19:35:00-04:00

"So we wanted to turn that conversation on its head and say, well what if we let water in? How can we make life better in Boston by bringing water in?" - Dennis Carlberg

Joanna Jolly talked to Boston city planners and architects, who are a proposing solutions to combat sea-level rise. One big idea, is canals which would criss-cross the streets of the Back Bay. Less radical ideas include; constructed wetlands and elevating critical equipment for new development.

Rockefeller Foundation and USAID Announce Global Resilience Design Challenge

2014-08-14T14:04:00-04:00

The first feature of the Resilience Partnership will be the launch of a multi-phase resilience design challenge, focused on bringing people and organizations from a diverse set of industries together to collaborate on bold and innovative solutions to the toughest resilience challenges facing the three focus regions.

Oakland Hires Its First “Chief Resilience Officer”

2014-08-12T13:50:00-04:00

Oakland has earthquakes, droughts and a host of other resilience problems to tackle. Now it has a Chief Resilience Officer to lead the charge. Today, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and Michael Berkowitz, president of The Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities initiative, will jointly announce that Victoria Salinas has been tapped as the city’s first Chief Resilience Officer, a position being created in other cities across the world, as well.

Garrison Architects develops post-disaster housing prototype for NYC residents

2014-06-25T21:15:00-04:00

Garrison Architects adds to the pressing topic of 21st-century disaster resilience for dense urban cities with their modular post-disaster housing prototype. Developed for the New York City Office of Emergency Management, the project aims to provide New Yorkers not only with reliable and adaptable emergency shelter, but also to keep residents close to their communities and reduce the necessity of long-term displacement.

More details on the prototype's design below:

"The aim is to create a blueprint for post-disaster housing by utilizing the latest construction technology in conjunction with stringent requirements for safety, sustainability, durability, and universal design.
The five multi-story modules [that Garrison Architects designed] are infinitely flexible: they can be deployed in vacant lots, private yards, or public spaces. When needed, the modules are trucked to a site, craned into place, and plugged into utilities.
With 1- and 3-bedroom configurations, every unit features a liv...

U.S. Department of HUD announces the Rebuild By Design winners

2014-06-02T20:40:00-04:00

The winners of the Rebuild By Design competition were finally revealed! The global competition sought out the best local and resilient design solutions that would help rebuild the Eastern Seaboard cities affected by Hurricane Sandy...Out of the 10 invited multidisciplinary teams, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) selected the six winners, who were announced today by Secretary Shaun Donovan.

BIG U by the BIG Team for New York, New York

Living with the Bay: A Comprehensive Regional Resiliency Plan for Nassau County’s South Shore by the Interboro Team for Long Island, New York

New Meadowlands: Productive City + Regional Park by MIT CAU + ZUS + URBANISTEN for The Meadowlands, New Jersey

Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge: A Comprehensive Strategy for Hoboken by OMA for Hoboken, New Jersey

Hunts Point Lifelines by PennDesign/OLIN for Bronx, New York

LIVING BREAKWATERS by SCAPE / Landscape Architecture for Staten Island, New York

Winning design solutions will be implemented through CDBG-DR funding in addition to other public and private-sector funding sources.

Find out more on Bustler.

Estimating resilience and vulnerability of major world cities

2014-05-12T00:47:00-04:00

As a profit making company, albeit with a sense of stewardship, our research on resilience is commercially motivated. Our approach helps us to create portfolios of real estate assets which are resilient and operate in emerging markets fully cognisant of the risks.

To quote Bruce Sterling "*British real estate firm tries to figure out where the investors’ money will be safe. Results are not encouraging".

The Jamaica Bay Greenway: A Resilient Ring for Southern Brooklyn and the Rockaways

2014-05-06T13:37:00-04:00

Among the most pressing issues facing New York’s new mayor is how his administration will pick up the mantle of the ambitious agenda established by Michael Bloomberg. How will the de Blasio administration address climate change and increase the resilience of those areas of the city most severely impacted by Superstorm Sandy? [...] The Rockaway peninsula, in particular, has been a veritable laboratory for designers exploring the implications of “resilience.”

The final proposals of the 10 shortlisted Rebuild by Design teams

2014-04-08T17:18:00-04:00

The ten Rebuild by Design finalist teams spent the past eight months doing intensive research and engaging with local communities to find local and resilient solutions to rebuild the Eastern Seaboard cities affected by Hurricane Sandy...Each team presented their final proposals to the public at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, NJ late last week. Secretary Shaun Donovan of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will announce the winning projects later this spring.

BIG, WXY + West 8, OMA, Sasaki Associates, Interboro Partners, and notable universities are only a few of the multidisciplinary team leaders in this global group of finalists.

While we wait for the winning results, check out the final proposals below.

BIG U by the BIG team
Location: New York, New York

The Commercial Corridor Resiliency Project by HR&A Advisors, Inc. with Cooper, Robertson & Partners
Location: Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York; Far Rockaway, Queens, New York; Asbury Park, New Jersey

Living with the Bay: A Comprehensive Regional Resiliency Plan for Nassau County’s South Shore by the Interboro team
Location: Long Island, New York

New Meadowlands: Productive City + Regional Park by MIT CAU + ZUS + URBANISTEN
Location: The Meadowlands, New Jersey

Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge: A Comprehensive Strategy for Hoboken
by OMA
Location: Hoboken, New Jersey

Hunts Point Lifelines by PennDesign/OLIN
Location: Hunts Point, Bronx, NY

RESILIENCE + THE BEACH by Sasaki/Rutgers/Arup
Location: Jersey Shor...

The future will not be dry

2014-04-03T15:54:00-04:00

Rather than cooking up designs in their Manhattan studios and then peddling them with PowerPoint presentations, the teams attended meetings by the score...The result is a series of designs by committee — not a single camel, but a whole herd of options.

Justin Davidson reviews the proposals from the ten finalists for Rebuild by Design, a competition for coastal resilience projects that offers its winners a slice of the federal government’s $4 billion disaster-recovery pie.

Resilience and neoliberalism

2014-01-28T16:37:00-05:00

It is not a new development that scholarly priorities are, regrettably, shaped by policy priorities (and by the strategies of big business and worries of the mainstream media) and therefore it is no coincidence that an entire cottage industry on “resilient cities” has emerged at a time of global austerity

Tom Slater examines the latest urban policy and think tank buzzword which he argues, operates as an insidious alias to dispossession and territorial stigmatisation.

h/t @demilit

[CONTAINED] - ONE Prize 2013 Stormproof finalist entry

2014-01-03T20:09:00-05:00

Here's our latest feature from the ONE Prize 2013: Stormproof competition, wherein participants had to propose smartly designed resilient cities prepared to face the challenges of severe climate conditions.

Specifically designed for New York City's coast, [CONTAINED] by Ishaan Kumar, Arianna Armelli, and David Sepulveda was a finalist entry in the international competition.

Here's a preview of their proposal:

For full project details, head over to Bustler.

More images can be found in the the thumbnails below.

OCEAN+CITY - ONE Prize 2013 Stormproof competition entry

2013-12-18T13:38:00-05:00

Designed for the Atlantic resort Ocean City on the coast of Maryland, "OCEAN+CITY" by Will Belcher, Joey Hays, Chris Landau, and Henry Moll is an entry the team submitted to this year's ONE Prize: Stormproof competition. Participants in the international competition had to propose smartly designed resilient cities ready to face the challenges of severe climate conditions.

Images courtesy of OCEAN+CITY.

Giant tunnel plug could limit future subway flood damage

2013-10-31T13:37:00-04:00

[...] officials viewed a tunnel plug under development by ILC Dover, a Department of Homeland Security vendor and supplier to NASA, to protect subway portals where grade level tracks transition to underground subways. If successfully tested, the MTA hopes the technology could be applied to portals and stairwell locations throughout the system. The tunnel plug demonstrated inside the station is not designed for use inside the subway system, Cuomo's office said.

Exactly one year ago in the Archinect News: MTA Video Release: Hurricane Sandy - South Ferry and Whitehall St Station Damage

Click here to learn more about this Inflatable, 35,000-gallon subway plug.

Winners of ONE Prize 2013 “Stormproof” competition

2013-10-30T15:37:00-04:00

The winners have been revealed for the ONE Prize 2013 international design competition! For this year's "Stormproof" theme, participants had to create smartly designed resilient cities ready to face the challenges of severe climate conditions. The competition, organized by Terreform ONE, drew submissions from 168 teams and 310 team members from more than 15 countries and five continents.

NYC's Complex Relationship With the Waterfront

2013-07-09T13:09:00-04:00

Behind that hyperrational menu of engineering options is a technocrat’s love letter to the maritime city. The charts and recommendations amount to a statement of faith that the waterfront is the city’s future as well as its past...But even if he did not have his legacy on the line, Bloomberg grasps an essential truth: This is a city built not just near the water, but over, under, and in it.

Seven months after Hurricane Sandy Mayor Bloomberg has released 'A Stronger, More Resilient New York' a manifesto for a more resilient, waterfront metropolis. Justin Davidson reviews New York's 400 year history, during which it has embraced, spurned, ignored, harnessed, and feared the water that made its greatness possible. He also, analyzes what the new manifesto might mean for the future of the city.