The Great Climate Migration

Irreversible climate change will result in areas of New York City becoming uninhabitable, despite earlier pronouncements by politicians to double down on the waterfront. In this urban resilience studio, which is interdisciplinary with landscape and architecture students, we will explore the complex issue of ‘retreat’. Can we re-imagine the coastline, clean up our waste, and re-direct our resources? Can we envision new, integrated, and inclusive communities resilient to other climate impacts, such as urban heat and stormwater flooding, but also to other shocks such as pandemics, with strong social infrastructures and a limited carbon footprint? And how do we get from here to there in an equitable way? How does one decide where to retreat from, and when, and where to?