Upcoming DfRR Earth Day Event

New York at Risk:  On The Waterfront

SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 3:00 PM - 5:30 PM  RSVP

At the Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place

Organized by AIA NY's Design for Risk and Reconstruction Committee (DfRR) & co-sponsored by The New York American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)

We’ve got 600 miles of coastline, water underground, water rushing at us from upstream, tidal currents rushing in from all around. We have one of the world’s largest natural harbors, from which an amazing port city grew. Even without a changing climate, we would have waterfront problems and just as many conflicting demands on our shores.

On Earth Day Sunday, a panel of design professionals will – no: must – consider current and future imperatives for our city’s bountiful but, in recent years, destructive waterfront.

The panel will address:

• What is New York City’s hydrological cycle? How does climate change affect it?

• What is at stake and what is at risk?

• What constitutes good long-range policy for water on, above, below, and beyond the city’s surface?

• What are the most interesting water-related ideas, proposals, and projects for the 5 boroughs, the city, and the region? Water’s edge, inland, and upland? Beach to wetland to building block?

All of DfRR’s programs address planning and design through the lens of what is at risk for New York City, how to avoid major episodes, and how to rebuild better after them. The committee presents experts and strategies to consider how the City’s form and buildings affect the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens.

Welcome and Introduction 
Lance Jay Brown, FAIA, DPACSA, Co-Chair, Design for Risk and Reconstruction Committee
Illya Azaroff, AIA, Co-Chair, Design for Risk and Reconstruction Committee

Moderator:
James Russell, FAIA, Architecture Critic, Bloomberg News

Panelists:
Jennifer Bolstad, Founder, Local Office Landscape Architecture 
Walter Meyer, Founders, Local Office Landscape Architecture
Bonnie Harken, AIA, President, Nautilus International
Anthony Romeo, AIA, Program Director of Park Programs, NYC Dept. of Design & Construction
Claire Weisz, FAIA, Founder, wxy architecture + urban design

Schedule
3pm - 5pm Panel Presentation & Discussion
5pm - 5:30pm Reception

Price:  Free for AIA/ASLA Members and students;  $10 for non-memebers
AIA CES: 1.5 LU   1.5 HSW

Tune in...

Tune in to NY1 this coming Monday 1/28/13 @ 8:30pm to view Budd Mishkin's One on 1 interview with Klaus Jacob.  Discussion to include climate change and Hurricane Sandy.
Click Here for Link to Interview

NYC Risk Assessment Mapping

The following maps were compiled by DfRR committee member Richard Gonzalez.  These maps analyze NYC's vulnerabilities to a Hurricane Impact as it relates to Critical Infrastructure, NYC High Risk Flood Zones, FEMA High Risk Flood Zones, Estimated Sea Level Rise in 2080, and Single Story Height Structures.

Hurricane Sandy: Estimated Losses Now Up to $50 Billion

Economic damages inflicted by Hurricane Sandy could reach $50 billion, according to new estimates that are more than double a previous forecast. Some economists warned on Thursday that the storm could shave a half percentage point off the nation’s economic growth in the current quarter.

Mike Groll/Associated Press

Link:  New York Times Article

Post-Sandy Recovery: Power Failures & Flooding

Hurricane Sandy struck the tri-state area on October 29, 2012, leaving many dead, millions without power and/or water, and countless homes unoccupiable. Fires have been widespread, notably in Breezy Point, Queens, where 80-100 homes have been destroyed by fire during the storm.

Breezy Point, post-storm fires via Atlantic Wire/Photo: Frank Franklin II, AP)

Hurricane Sandy is on its way to being one of the most expensive disasters in history. Costs, expected in the billions, will come in the form of direct recovery expenses, such as the projected $8 million in damages to the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, NJ, as well as costs associated with the disruption to business and services. As of Tuesday morning, the Wall Street Journal reports that all four NYC area airports remain closed. Transit is disrupted throughout New York City and the tri-state area. New York public schools remain closed. The New York Stock Exchange will be closed until Wednesday, the first time since 1888 that the NYSE has closed two days in a row due to weather.

In a press conference appearance, Governor Cuomo said that New York is relatively well prepared for disasters, but that much of our infrastructure was designed without an understanding of  many of the current risks. Some argue that these risks are increasing. In an October 6, 2011 presentation to the DFRR Committee, Klaus Jacob, of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory & School of International and Public Affairs, predicted that the economic impact of storms to the city may increase dramatically when future storm surges are compounded by climate change-related sea level rise.

The New York Times has extensive coverage of the Hurricane Sandy aftermath, including the spread of power failures in the Northeast:

via the New York Times

Upcoming 2012 Conferences: Disaster Planning, Urban Resilience, Adaptation & Mitigation

This list is a sampling of 2012 upcoming conferences in the fields of design, planning, building, science, government, business, and finance, and their overlapping need for disaster planning, risk analysis, urban resilience, and adaptation and mitigation.

Most are still open to attendees and some are still accepting abstracts. Let's get the DFRR community involved. Click "read more" to see conferences through September 2012.

January 2012

January 17-19, 2012
International Disaster Conference
International Disaster Conference and Expo
New Orleans, Louisiana
Cost and Registration: $200 before November 17, open until filled
This conference presents public- and private-sector best practices in emergency management, homeland security, and disaster preparation, response, recovery, and mitigation. Session topics include business continuity planning, national security, global emergency preparedness, and private sector emergency management resources. Independent training courses in business continuity and emergency management will also be offered.

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January 18-20, 2012
Public Health Law Research Annual Meeting
Public Health Law Research
New Orleans, Louisiana
Cost and Registration: $125, open until filled
This conference will discuss how laws can prevent and mitigate public health issues and ensure a healthier population. Topics include communicable and non-communicable diseases, injury prevention, future public health law research priorities, and the effects of regulation on public health.
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January 22-25, 2012
Seventh Gulf Seismic Forum
Saudi Geological Survey
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Cost and Registration: Free, open until filled
This conference will address earthquake risk in Saudi Arabia where increased infrastructure and development in quake zones are issues. Cooperation in monitoring and mitigation strategies will also be discussed. Topics include seismological data management, earthquake engineering, induced seismicity, volcanic hazards, and seismic zoning.
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January 25, 2012
ULI – Real Estate & Economic Impacts of Sea Level Rise in Connecticut
Urban Land Institute
New Haven, Connecticut
This conference will focus on adaptation and mitigation strategies needed to protect Connecticut's shoreline, economy, property and infrastructure from sea level rise.
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January 31 to February 3, 2012
Connections in the Climate System
Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
Sydney, Australia
Cost and Registration: $500, open until filled
This conference examines the physical components of climate systems, the evolution of climate systems over time, and the connections between climate change and extreme events. Topics include coastal erosion and storm surge impacts, increased hazard intensity and frequency, and the effects of climate change on renewable resources.

Louisiana's 2012 Coastline Restoration Plan



LA Coastal Plan 2012, via


A $50 billion proposal to address the future of Louisiana's coastline is under  review by state legislature .  The 2012 Coastal Master Plan describes the 50 year program as increasing flood protection across all socio-economic groups and creating a sustainable coastline. The full plan can be found here.

The plan, not the first, optimistically projects "an end to land loss in 30 years and creating up to 859 square miles of land over the next five decades," in contrast to doing nothing to address the issue at a loss of 1,756 square miles in the same time frame.  Each year Louisiana loses between 25 and 35 square miles of coastal wetlands that revert to open waters, among the highest rates of conversion in the world.  According to Science, the 50 year land loss corresponds to a "loss of public resources, including fisheries, wildlife habitat, navigation, flood control, and hurricane protection...estimated at more than $37 billion."

The plan includes additional levees and building up land "by opening up diversions on the Mississippi River and the Atchafalaya River to flush sediment and freshwater into marshlands now sinking and eroding, ...building new ridges, pumping sediment into eroded marshes, building new shorelines, shoring up coastal spots that have fallen apart and pouring sand onto disappearing barrier islands.'' (Boston.com article)  The majority of the budget, $17 billion, is allotted for marsh creation projects. (Fox.com article)

With 80% of the coastline privately owned, the plan is careful to acknowledge the rights and mineral rights of affected landowners, but critics argue that coastal restoration projects just put more people in the way of the next disaster. Continued projects reassure residents of safety in areas where it is questionable.  Further, scientists call into question even the short term effectiveness of some restoration projects. Research out of Duke University on replenished Gulf of Mexico beaches found that only 10% of them lasted more than five years. (Orlando Sentinel article) Full and continued funding is also questionable. Coast 2050, a similar and similarly large ($14 billion) project developed in 1998 had the backing of scientists, Louisiana officials, city planners, and the Army Corps of Engineers, but it was dumped due to funding issues. (NY Times article)

Resilience: Facing Up to Rising Sea Levels



Image by: Building Futures



The Institution of Civil Engineers together with Building Futures, a think tank of the Royal Institute of British Architects, RIBA, have published a study addressing the future of the UK's coastal cities.

Facing Up to Rising Sea Levels - Retreat? Defend? Attack? suggests that changes should be made to manmade constraints in the built environment to adapt to likely changes in the physical environment, including increased storm frequency and rising sea levels.

Through coastal management, adaptive architecture, and sea defences, but most importantly, investing and acting proactively, Building Futures suggests that the negatives of climate change can become positives.

Their plan in three parts: Retreat, Defend, Attack.



Their recommendations for architects, engineers, and urban designers:

Post by: Anne Marie Chance

stakeholders from the beginning of the design process – especially the environment agency. potential of water, waterways and wetlands in the urban environment. opportunities that can be created through creative and commercially viable flood management systems, encouraging integrated, multi-functional and economically advantageous solutions.

• Design-led approaches to flood risk management

should shift from a reliance on flood defences to a holistic management of risk, combining defence and measures to alleviate the impact of floods.

• Structural measures, particularly defence 

works, should avoid disconnecting one part of a community from another and should preserve visual (and where possible physical) continuity between the community and rivers and coastline.

• New development or regeneration should be seen

as an opportunity to change existing land use in urban areas to make space for water.

• Consult and communicate with all relevant

• Schemes should seek to fully exploit the amenity

• Inform the developer/client of development

Not a terribly surprising set of recommendations, but if you haven't already, it is definitely worth downloading the study to read through the case studies.