Metropolitics

Looking Backward into the Future of New York

Ted Steinberg — 2015-01-12T05:50:00Z

Can the lesson of Hurricane Sandy dampen the enthusiasm of New York City's growth machine? Ted Steinberg, author of Gotham Unbound, an environmental history of New York City, gives an overview of the historical developments that make the city one of the most vulnerable to floods in the United States.
How should those who rule over New York City plan for its future? Sketching out elaborate plans has long been a cottage industry in the nation's largest city. To date, however, historical

- Essays / catastrophe, disaster, environment, United States, urban ecology, land, water, New York, history, sustainable urban planning, Sandy, sea-level rise, flooding, vulnerability, wildlife

New York's Two Sandys

Daniel Aldana Cohen & Max Liboiron — 2014-10-30T06:00:00Z

According to New Yorkers, two different Hurricane Sandys hit their city in 2012. The first was a one-time indiscriminate exceptional catastrophe. The second was an extraordinary acceleration of inequalities affecting the poorest New Yorkers. Daniel A. Cohen and Max Liboiron promote the second perspective as a systemic approach susceptible of helping New York City face the challenges of environmental distress both locally and globally.
On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy flooded New York

- From the Field / catastrophe, disaster, environment, New York, resilience, hurricane, Sandy

Fighting for Retreat after Sandy: The Ocean Breeze Buyout Tent on Staten Island

Liz Koslov — 2014-04-23T04:50:00Z

On October 29, 2012, Staten Island, a borough of New York City, was on the front line when Hurricane Sandy ravaged the coast. Today, residents of the East Shore, directly exposed to the ocean, show how inhabitants can mobilize to transform vulnerable parts of coastal cities into a natural protection for the rest.
It's a warm and sunny morning in early October 2013, almost a year after Hurricane Sandy struck the east coast of the United States. As I walk down Seaview Avenue, navigating

- From the Field / catastrophe, public space, disaster, United States, New York, resilience, hurricane, Sandy