Waterfront Conference 2015 - Resiliency Projects and Community Participation (panel)
Channel: Waterfront Alliance
Date: 2015-05-28

Two and a half years after Superstorm Sandy, waterfront communities in the Northeast have reached a crossroads, and many have received a first level of engagement, thinking, and response from public officials and private sector practitioners. To address risks of flooding from sea level rise and storm surge, City and State agencies are planning investments in vulnerable neighborhoods to build continuous flood protection structures such as floodwalls, levees, and local storm surge barriers to the 100-year flood elevation with an additional allowance for future sea level rise. Design professionals and policymakers face a new set of challenges as they set about building on lessons learned in their communities.

We need to add a new component to our thinking about resiliency—the social, economic, and cultural needs of communities, in addition to their structural needs. Real, meaningful community participation is the key to understanding these needs, which are less tangible but no less real. How can public investments in coastal protection promote economic development and public access to the waterfront? And how can stakeholders on all sides collaborate in an interactive engagement process to move towards a more holistic and durable conception of resiliency?