Rebuild by Design Winners Announced

Nearly two years after Super Storm Sandy, parts of New York City are still recovering from the devestation. But Mayor de Blasio and U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan have announced proposals to prevent that scale of disaster again in the city and Long Island.

The four propoals were the winners of the Rebuild by Design Contest that was created in 2013 by President Obama's Hurrican Sandy Rebuilding Task Force. Donovan, who was the head of the task force, said at a press conference Monday that their goal had always been not only to get people back in their homes, but to rebuild the affected regions stronger and more prepared for future disasters.

The contest was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. It orginally had 148 design teams from more than 15 different countries who collaborated with local, state, and federal authorities. The four teams that won were the Interboro Team, SCAPE/ Landscape Architcture, The BIG Team, and PennDesign/ OLIN.

The Interboro Team's proposal will help Long Island's Nassau County's South Shore. HUD funds will implement the "Slow Streams" element of their proposal. It addresses the threats to the area by flooding of tributaries through a set of interconnected interventions that would store and filter water. The state has been given $125 million by Housing and Urban Development for this proposal.

SCAPE/ Landscape Architeture's proposal would will help the Tottenville section of Staten Island. Their project is called the Living Breakwaters project. It will create living infrastructure that will reduce wave action and erosion. The state has been given $60 million for this project. 

The BIG Team proposed "The BIG U" that would help the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It will protect 10 miles along the East River from rising sea levels by creating raised barriers known as berms. The berms will also offer accessible routes to East River Park and will have salt tolerant trees, shrubs, and perennials. The city has been given $335 million to implement the first phase of the proposal.

PennDesign/ OLIN's proposal will help Hunts Point in the South Bronx. Hunt's Point is the center of the region's food supply chain. The proposed project has several parts to protect the neighborhood as a whole, improve air quality, improve waterway infrastructure. The city has been given $20 million for continued planning and study, but not for full implentation. 

These new models were also chosen because officials believe that they can be replicable. Officials say that FEMA has been watching the contest closely to see if they can use any of the proposals in other areas, like Florida.

Resiliency money is also coming from FEMA and The Army Corps, which officals say is being used in Brooklyn and Queens, which were not included in the announced proposals.