As we saw on the Land Project page, loss of natural waterways and flood systems during the development of New York City has left the islands that make up New York City vulnerable to threat from rising sea level and storm surges in a warming world. The solution is to bring some form of these natural water dispersal systems back to New York City. There has been much discussion around what Manhattan might need for the future, but the focus of my project centers on the New York City borough of Staten Island, as detailed on the Need page.
Earlier this year, Jason Barr, Professor at Rutgers University, proposed the New Manahatta Project, which detailed how building 1769 acres of land around the southern tip of Manhattan would help protect the existing Manhattan from rising ocean waters. This is a very good proposal, but I am suggesting something a bit more organic for the future defense of Staten Island. A solution that will make the flood danger zones of Staten Island climate-proof, but one that also goes towards addressing housing inequity and providing community engagement areas.
Based on the New York City Flood Hazard Mapper and Sandy Inundation Zone Map, I determined that the South Shore of Staten Island faced the greatest danger from Climate Change than the rest of Staten Island. This is no surprise, as it is the South Shore that directly faces the Atlantic Ocean.
The area that needs to be protected by this land reclamation project is the are from Fort Wadsworth, the most easterly point of Staten Island, down to, and including, Great Kills Harbor.The land will mostly be claimed from dredging of New York Harbor shipping lanes. The lanes are constantly being inundated with new material being brought in from the Atlantic Ocean by tides. This project will give the shipping lanes a well needed clearing out. As well as this, there is also the possibility of using material from construction sites, which Burr notes, is what Battery Park was made out of. When it was constructed, it used material excavated during the making of the Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center.
As can been seen from the map above, there was also considerable flooding on the North-Western shore as well as some flooding in inland. These areas, however, are undeveloped, natural wetland areas and demonstrated how natural wetlands serve to mitigate flooding. The EPA produced a study in 2000 detailing the extent of the wetlands and the benefits they provide. The study also determined that most of the wetland loss on Staten Island has occurred on the South Shore, centering around Midland Beach, which is the area that suffered the most flooding during Sandy. The Westshore swamp area is also recently slated for development that could seriously jeopardize the functioning of this area. This development will need to be either stopped or constructed to ensure wetland stability, however, I have not tackled this particular issue as part of this proposal for South Shore renewal.
The new land will start from the existing Father Capodanno Blvd and move out to the sea from that point. This is an eight mile stretch of land. the new land will extend half a mile out to sea, creating a total new landmass of 2,560 acres. This will require the existing Staten Island boardwalk to be pulled down. There are currently no structures on the boardwalk that pose any issue to this, with the exception of the Blue Fin Grill, which will remain in its current location. The materials claimed from the razing of the exiting boardwalk, will be reused in making any equipment or play areas on the new land. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) had determined that at current rates, ocean levels will rise twelve inches by 2050. A separate Hurricane Sandy Impact Study found that storm surges reached fourteen inches around New York City. Combining these figures, we get a need for protection of twenty-six inches, at a minimum. To allow for higher sea rise beyond 2050, and for increasing storms and related surges, the existing land will be raised by a height of five feet, or sixty inches.
This land will be uncovered, that is, it will be soil from top to bottom with no development of the land, beyond some housing which will be built on the southern edge of the existing Father Capodanno Blvd. The purpose of this project is to bring a return to natural water management systems, so by keeping this land free from concrete and heavy development will allow the new land to, not just provide a height barrier for the water to overcome, but also to absorb any water that does make it to the new ground. This is the concept that was employed in Rotterdam. The new areas will be functional as community play areas, holding playgrounds, baseball diamonds and other team sport fields, but this land is deliberately intended to occasionally become flooded, just like natural flood plains. When the land does flood, the open soil area will not just transmit the water across its surface but will absorb the water and pull it down before it has a chance to reach the developed part of Staten Island.
The seaward edge of the new land will be turned into beach area. Using the existing techniques associated with beach nourishment, the sand will be placed around the north-eastern tip of the new land area and allow the natural processes of sand redistribution by waves to move the sand down along the new land. This ensures that the sand is moved, naturally, to the areas where it is needed most, and most likely to settle. This is already a favorite process of environmentalists to use existing beach areas as natural water inundation protection zones. To retain the existing feel of the current South Shore, the new land will have a boardwalk placed on the seaward edge of the new land just behind the new beach area.
Barr cited the land reclamation project of Rotterdam, Netherlands as an inspiration for his New Manahatta project. This is a very good project that is hoped will help Rotterdam protect its low-lying land areas from rising sea levels. This is why I will also be using Rotterdam as a base for this project. 
When looking at the maps of Rotterdam’s residential vs Industrial areas and comparing that to Rotterdam’s elevation levels, is becomes apparent that people’s homes are much more at risk of flooding than their industry is. I saw this as a practical visualization of how private citizens bear the brunt of environmental, and how climate change affects minority populations at a far greater rate than white people. To begin to address this issue, I included detailed notes about how this new land project would also address housing inequality and inequity, which can be viewed on the Land Use page.
