Group Members: Caitlin, Kay, Pabvitraa, Rob, and Olha
Our group plans to focus on the issue of water resiliency. In a city with 520 miles of coastline, this issue is increasingly relevant as global temperatures rise, ushering in an era of melting ice caps and rising sea levels. Following Hurricane Sandy, NYC government officials decided it would be a good idea to permanently invest in better infrastructure to mitigate the flood risks associated with more frequent storms. After all, PlaNYC’s Climate Analysis reports that our floodplain has increased by about 15 square miles from 1983 with about 400,000 New Yorkers now residing within them, not to mention $129.1 billion worth of properties. Flooding has the potential to damage these properties, as well as natural resources, and even cause loss of life, posing a great threat to our city. NYC is highly prone to inland flooding which occurs due to short-term torrential downpours, or moderate rainfalls that occur over several days. Its built environment is dense, heavily paved, and built on landfill in what were once wetland areas. This limits the capacity of the ground to absorb or drain water, raising the risk of inland flooding.
To combat flood risks, defend coastal cities, and protect investments, the city should invest in more resilient infrastructure – namely Rain(a)Way tiles, which offer an innovative method to lead water into different channels so that flooding is lessened, rainwater seeps into the ground, and groundwater is constantly replenished. By placing the tiles on the existing ground, our city can prepare for a future in which more extreme weather and the flooding associated with it are increasingly prevalent. We believe this is the best, most cost-efficient use of the resources at our disposal for flood prone areas, especially when homeowners still recovering from Sandy do not wish to spend more money of flood proofing their properties. There are currently four types of tiles with different functions, such as one that infiltrates rainwater and one that leads the water away so each NYC area should get tiles best suited for its needs. For example, severe flood plains would have the ebb tiles made of waterproof concrete to disperse the water evenly to prevent local flooding.
Our tentative plan for working on this project includes meetings either before or after class, and setting a time on Monday evenings to meet digitally and work together in order to complete this project in a timely fashion. We also plan on allocating group responsibilities as evenly and fairly as possible so that we can all work individually on our separate parts but still overlap responsibilities for more accuracy, such as research and hypothetical implementation. For example, one person will report on how Rain(a)Way tiles are related to sustainability and resiliency in broad terms and another will report on why it is concerning for NYC. One person will explain our policy solution, the other will review the case study of the tiles working in the Netherlands, and the final person will report on how a city agency, most likely the Department of City Planning and its special zoning regulations, will carry out the investment budget wise, how long (most likely ten years) it will take, and possible problems we might run into. Finally, we will come together and review each other’s work.
