USA: This public park is a model for urban design in the age of climate crisis

By Evan Nicole Brown

[...]

New York, which is bordered by the East River on one edge, is one of these cities left vulnerable to changing tides and hurricanes. City officials and planners are racing to prepare the city to withstand flooding, with several large-scale resilience projects underway today. But smaller, site-specific projects could help New York adapt, too: Take the new public park project, Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park, which is designed to protect its Long Island City home from rising flood waters through repurposing abandoned industrial land.

The 30-acre park was designed by SWA/Balsley and Weiss/Manfredi, and boasts a playground, urban beach, exercise terrace, cafe-bar, and more. The mercurial East River—which has left New York residents vulnerable to sudden natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy—runs parallel to the park, and along it, the team of architects, landscape architects, and engineers developed a causeway engineered with sustainability in mind. This protective walkway guards against potential tidal currents that could harm the neighboring upland community and new waterside habitat.

[...]

The public park is littered with various water management tools hiding in plain sight. Concrete benches divert storm flood water, the cafe’s roof catches rain for reuse, and the grassy soccer field is conveniently lined with drains.

[...]

Balsley and his collaborators took a holistic approach to resiliency—a complex problem—without sacrificing the social and cultural components that are necessary to a public park’s success. Now, the park exists jointly as an innovative piece of infrastructure and also a shared space for the larger community looking for a place to relax, participate in outdoor sports, or simply look out on the riparian vista. For the affordable housing developments just adjacent to the site (some of which are still in progress), this is a particularly satisfying green space.