The East Side Coastal Resiliency project (ESCR) is the first compartment of The BIG U design to move into implementation, with $335 million in HUD CDBG-DR funding, and the first major urban resilience project of its kind in the United States.

Scheduled to begin construction in late 2020, the ESCR compartment will protect the communities behind a 2.4 mile section of coastline along the East River, running from 25th Street in the East Village to Montgomery Street in the Lower East Side. In the re-envisioned East River Park, flood protection elements and landscape improvements are designed to heighten quality of life, improve park access over Robert Moses-era highway infrastructure, and amenitize public spaces while preserving existing recreational capacity. 

As the first integrated resilience project in New York organized between multiple agencies, the design process has gradually become an exercise in how to organize resilience projects. ONE’s role in the project has extended from urban integration to inter-agency coordination, helping to create the first precedent and framework for planning large-scale coastal infrastructure, deconflicting municipal priorities through multiple-scenario planning while illuminating co-benefits to a wide cross-section of stakeholder interests. In the late stages of the project design and documentation, ONE has led the detailed architectural design of the flood protection system — including 17 flood gates crossing City right-of-ways, and over a mile of exposed concrete flood wall.

• Project Period:
  Phase 1 | Planning and feasibility: December 2014 – November 2015
  Phase 2 | Concept and preliminary design: January 2016 – May 2019
  Phase 3 | Final design: May 2019 – August 2020 Construction completion (est.) 2025
• Client:
  The Mayor’s Office of Resiliency (MOR), NYC Department of Design and Construction (NYC-DDC)
  Partner agencies: NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYC-EDC), NYC Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC-DPR), NYC Department of Transportation (NYC-DOT), NYC Department of City Planning (NYC-DCP)
• Collaborators: AKRF, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects (MNLA), Arcadis, Jacobs, Siteworks

Climate Ready Downtown Boston and North End was the fifth, and final, district-level translation of the recommendations from the 2016 Climate Ready Boston report, developing localized flood resilience strategies for Boston’s central business district and historic waterfront.  The STOSS and ONE led venture produced short- and long-term, layered infrastructure and open space strategies to protect against successive changes in sea levels and storm effects, and that leverage resiliency efforts for improvements beneficial to local communities, the environment, historic assets, public agencies, and private landowners. Building upon the team’s previous work and lessons learned in East Boston, Charlestown, and South Boston (Moakley Park), STOSS and ONE (supported by Kleinfelder, Woods Hole Group, and Arcadis) proposed a dynamic, future-forward adaptation of downtown Boston, with a particular focus on ensuring the long-term viability of the maritime character and operationality of the waterfront.

The project utilized multi-pronged engagement to reach individual property owners, public agencies, existing and potential partners, as well as community members and groups — with the goal of building consensus. Feedback from this process and regular guidance from the steering committee was filtered back through design proposals, tailoring these strategies to the circumstances and stakeholders at hand. The feasibility study developed concepts to address flood entry points, to reduce flood risk. The proposed solutions explore adaptation strategies for historic buildings, open space, and 400 year old wharfs.

The final report is available here.

• Project Period: April 2019 – February 2020
• Client: City of Boston
• Collaborators: Stoss Landscape Urbanism, Kleinfelder, Arcadis, Woods Hole Group

ONE was commissioned by NYC Parks and the Mayor’s Office of Resiliency as part of a multidisciplinary team to develop a resilience vision for the East Harlem neighborhood, extending from East 92nd to 154th Street. The result of this year-long study is a comprehensive plan for adaptation to climate change impacts through an integrated approach that includes coastal protection measures, stormwater management, and urban heat island strategies within a larger framework for open space and increased social resiliency.  

The project also sought to use its process to grow a culture of resiliency in East Harlem. Through an innovative stakeholder outreach, the team partnered with DREAM Charter School to co-develop a high school curriculum in resiliency planning as well as link to a network of community institutions and residents. The resiliency planning curriculum exposes students to principles and methodologies related to neighborhood mapping, analyzing social vulnerability, and designing green infrastructure. This effort resulted in the publication of a 20-lesson curriculum made available for other schools to teach, and demonstration projects by the students across the neighborhood. 

The public report is available here.  

• Project Period: October 2017 — October 2018 
• Client: Organizing agency: NYC Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC DPR)
  Partner agency: NYC Mayor’s Office of Resiliency (MOR) 
• Collaborators: Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects, Langan, NYU Institute for Public Knowledge (IPK), Urbanomics, Sam Schwartz Engineering 

Building upon the lessons learned in the Vision Plan for a Resilient East Harlem, ONE continued to research and develop ideas for the longer term evolution of the neighborhood. The culmination of this exploration was the proposal of an integrated stormwater management corridor along East 106th Street, a critical flood pathway within the district. Through a reconfiguration of the right-of-way and expansion of green-blue infrastructure, the proposal uses stormwater capture, retention, and conveyance to mitigate bathtub flooding that could result from the implementation of coastal flood infrastructure. At the same time, a redesigned East 106th Street eliminates transportation conflicts and enhances access for cars, buses, bicycles, and pedestrians.

• Project Period: October 2019 — March 2020 
• Client: Self-Initiated

For the Dutch government-led Water as Leverage challenge, ONE assembled an interdisciplinary, international team of designers, engineers, economists, ecologists, anthropologists, art activists, and academics to tackle water-related risks and opportunities in Semarang, Indonesia. 

The ONE team developed a city-wide, integrated vision spanning from the region’s coast to its hilly urban periphery. The proposal puts forth potential interventions with multiple benefits centered around eco-industrial clusters, water security, resilience communities, and a protective coastal greenbelt. Only as part of a comprehensive approach, the team described, would any individual infrastructure project achieve a net positive effect on the drastic rates of subsidence (largely due to groundwater extraction and aquifer depletion), sea-level rise, and rapid urbanization presently occurring in Semarang. 

The design approach is comprised around three connected resilient systems: 1) an optimized water capture and recycling system; (2) an integrated (eco, industrial, logistic) protective coastal zone; and (3) a network of resilient kampungs (districts). Many of the component sub-projects within these systems – street-level green infrastructure, water conveyance and retention systems along toll roads, protective greenbelts built into waterfront industrial sites, offshore barriers around inundated port areas – tie into the city’s planned or ongoing capital projects in the coming years. As part of the challenge, the team co-developed these potential projects and concepts alongside city agencies, local stakeholders, businesses, and communities. 

Since the delivery of the final program proposals in mid-2019, ONE and Kota Kita have continued working between RVO and the Indonesian government entities on capacity building, integration and adoption of concepts, and (ultimately) a series of targeted infrastructure investments. 

The Final Report is available here.   

• Project Period: April 2018 – June 2019 
• Client: Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl) 
• Collaborators: Kota Kita, Deltares, Wetlands International, Sherwood Design Engineers, Hysteria Grobak, University of Pennsylvania, Iqbal Reza Fazlurrahman, Cindy Riswantyo, Nature Conservancy (TNC), Atelier Ten, Diponegoro University 

Together, the cities of Chelsea and Everett are pursuing climate resiliency planning and adaptation measures to address coastal and inland flooding. The communities were jointly awarded a grant by the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Coastal Resilience program to address projected flooding from the Island End River, where they share an extensive 500 acre floodplain (for a 100-year storm event in 2030). This large area houses many commercial and industrial properties key to economic viability in the region, among these properties is the metro area central produce distribution facility, New England Produce Center.  

In Chelsea the project centered on efforts to develop a conceptual design for a flood barrier previously proposed in a 2017 report on “Designing Coastal Community Infrastructure for Climate Change”. In Everette, the team analyzed, and mapped risk and vulnerabilities based on flood models produced by WHG. The high resolution and detailed analysis revealed that to provide comprehensive protection for the area the barrier will need to extend between municipal boundaries and continue into Everett. The team studied multiple alignments and options for a continuous flood barrier, considering near- and long- term solutions, subsurface conditions, property ownership, zoning, and state regulations. Physical solutions included flood walls, elevated public spaces, and natural wetland buffers. The final report outlines both opportunistic and strategic recommendations for implementation in Everett and Chelsea, as well as policies, evaluation criteria, and design solutions, subject to additional localized conditions, stakeholders, etc.   

The engagement strategy has been multi-pronged and developed in collaboration with two local organizations Greenroots and Mystic River Watershed Association (MyWRA). It was designed to reach personal property owners, abutters, and residents to build a critical mass of consensus. Feedback from this process and regular guidance from a collaborative steering committee were filtered back through proposals to best tailor these strategies to the circumstances and stakeholders at hand.  

The project is now in a second stage grant under the MVP program, and will complete design in late 2021. 

• Project Period: October 2018 — June 2019 
• Client: City of Chelsea and City of Everett 
• Collaborators: Weston & Sampson, Woods Hole Group, Mystic River Watershed Association, GreenRoots 

Concord is susceptible to the impacts of climate change, namely increases in heat, rainfall, and storms, and damage caused by riverine and stormwater flooding. While the Town of Concord has excelled at taking action to prevent the emission of greenhouse gases that cause climate change, the Town still has more to do to prepare for localized changes that are already underway. Concord’s town centers can be made more resilient to the current and upcoming impacts of climate change through planning efforts which will allow businesses and residents to continue enjoying their town amidst changing conditions and challenges. The plan for Sustainable Concord aims to provide an actionable roadmap for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, preserving our natural resources, and preparing all residents for the impacts of climate change. ONE worked to develop resilience design recommendations for the Main Street Milldam area and the business center in West Concord. 

To develop a long-term strategy for a resilient and vibrant village, the team performed an extensive vulnerability analysis, by reviewing past work, analyzing data on climate impacts, identifying vulnerabilities, and engaging with local businesses, schools, and residents. The team has developed preliminary recommendations for Concord’s town centers via urban design, architecture, and policy solutions. 

The plan is available here.

• Project Period: October 2019 – June 2020
• Client: Town of Concord
• Collaborators: Kim Lundgren Associates (KLA), Center for Sustainable Energy

The Big U/Dryline is a protective system that encircles Manhattan, responding to the needs and concerns of the island’s diverse communities. Stretching from West 57th Street south to The Battery and up to East 42nd Street, Big U/Dryline protects 10 continuous miles of low lying geography that comprise an incredibly dense, vibrant, and vulnerable urban area. The proposed system not only shields the city against floods and stormwater; it provides social and environmental benefits to the community, and fosters an improved public realm. Coordinated plans were created for three contiguous but separate regions of the waterfront dubbed “compartments. Each compartment comprises a physically discrete flood-protection zone that can be isolated from flooding in adjacent zones. Each presents unique opportunities for integrated social and community planning. The compartments work in concert to protect and enhance the city, but each compartment’s proposal is designed to stand on its own. Proposed solutions for the components were designed in close consultation with the associated communities and many local, municipal, State and Federal stakeholders; each proposal has a benefit-cost ratio greater than one; and each is flexible, easily phased, and able to integrate with existing projects in progress.

• Project Period: July 2013 – July 2014
• Client: US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force
• Collaborators: BIG Bjarke Ingels Group, Starr Whitehouse, James Lima Planning + Development, Green Shield Ecology, AEA Consulting, Level Agency for Infrastructure, Arcadis, Buro Happold

The Moakley Park Vision Plan balances outdoor recreational needs and community gathering spaces for a major park in South Boston, with protection against climate-change impacts such as flooding from increased rainfall and sea-level rise. The plan provides a vision for the programmatic development of the park that ensures a diverse and balanced mix of uses, increases active recreational opportunities, cultural amenities, and safety. At the same time, it will consider how the design of the park can help increase the neighborhood’s resilience against coastal flooding and reduce the impact of rainfall on recreational fields.  

The planning process itself seeks to stimulate meaningful and inclusive community engagement and identify both a long-term design approach to the park that encourages a wide range of users as well as early ‘catalyst’ projects and partnerships to help promote and sustain future park renovation projects. The vision will seek to increase connectivity between Moakley Park and adjacent neighborhoods as well as Carson Beach and The Boston Harbor Islands, just steps away. The Vision Plan process spanned the course of a single year. Four major community events were planned during this time. For these events, ONE and Stoss designed immersive public engagement centered around play activities simulating flood protection and interactive exercises to help determine the park’s future programming. In addition, the team conducted a routine series of open houses, interviews, and stakeholder meetings. In the initial stages of the project, a Community Advisory Board was formed to inform the design team of questions, concerns, and aspirations for future users of Moakley. In Fall 2018, ONE and Stoss were invited to the Ontario Climate Consortium to present on their innovative techniques through an imitation engagement session, Lateral Dialogues.  

Presently, the team is working on the schematic design of the full park, as well as developing the “Phase 1”  project which will commence construction in late 2021. 

• Project Period: January 2018 — January 2019 
• Client: Boston Department of Parks and Recreation 
• Collaborators: Stoss Landscape Urbanism, Nitsch Engineering, Weston & Sampson