Deltares: “Rebuild by Design” Announced in New York (USA)

Rebuild by Design has announced in New York which ten teams have been selected to go ahead with the development of their proposals for making the East Coast of the United States climate-resilient.

The selected teams include a strikingly high number of Dutch participants. The Dutch research centre Deltares is a member of two of the selected teams. There were 148 entries from 15 countries.

“Promoting resilience post-Sandy through innovative planning and design” is the slogan of the Rebuild by Design competition organised by the American government after the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy almost a year ago. Large parts of New York and the surrounding region were flooded and 67 people lost their lives. After the destructive impact of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, this was the second wake-up call for the Americans within a few years: the country lacks adequate protection against the impact of climate change such as extreme weather conditions with high water levels. This competition was organised to produce concrete solutions.

Deltares is a member of the Interboro Partners and MIT/CAU + Dutch Delta Collective consortiums.

Interboro Partners

The research conducted by the Interboro Partners Team focuses on enhancing the resilience of the New Jersey to Boston area, including the estuary of the Hudson River. This area includes low- and medium-density, low-income communities. The plan is being developed to improve coastal defences at the local and regional levels in the short term but also looking 100 years into the future.

In this project, Deltares is partnered with Interboro Partners, the New Jersey Institute of Technology Infrastructure Planning Program, Delft University of Technology, Project Projects, RFA Investments, IMG Rebel, Center for Urban Pedagogy, David Rusk, Apex, and Bosch Slabbers; H+N+S and Palmbout Urban Landscapes.

Roelof Stuurman is representing Deltares on this project.

MIT/CAU + Dutch Delta Collective

The MIT/CAU + Dutch Delta Collective team aims to link regional protection and local adaptation, developing new strategies, instruments and typologies for a resilient Northeastern Seaboard.

In this project, Deltares is partnering the MIT Center for Advanced Urbanism with the Dutch Delta Collective by ZUS with De Urbanisten, 75B and Volker Infra Design. Frans Klijn and Mindert De Vries are representing Deltares on this team.

Ongoing development

In the next stage of the competition, the teams will continue to elaborate their research, led by New York University’s Institute for Public Knowledge. The competition is sponsored by the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force and it will end early next year with the submission of site-specific schematic design solutions. Each team will receive a sum of $200,000 for the work during this stage of the competition. In March 2014, the winning teams will be invited to develop their proposals further to the local implementation level with assistance from the Federal Disaster Recovery Funds.

[mappress]

Press Release, August 21, 2013