Affordable Housing and Resilient Neighborhoods

Three years after hurricane Sandy, many moderate income communities are still struggling to recover from damage to homes, local businesses, and to infrastructure. In Coney Island, Stantec is working with the New York City Housing Authority to not only renovate damaged dwellings, but to establish a framework for which a moderate income community of several thousand residents and businesses can have stable affordable housing and protection from sea level rise.  The plan leverages the improvements required to harden electrical systems, buildings, heating systems, and areas of refuge, as a means to create new public spaces, pedestrian improvements, bike networks, green infrastructure, and improved housing.  According to the planner for the project, Marc Wouters, RA LEED AP, the plan strives to eliminate the isolation created by a 1970’s style public housing campus that employed “towers in the park” planning strategies. The proposed plan heals the gaps between the towers and surrounding neighborhood by inserting new infill public buildings, landscaping, sidewalks, and improved lighting. Flood modeling for future sea level rise allows the design team to create improvements that protect residents from future more-intense hurricanes. The total number of public housing dwellings in the area remains unchanged. The plan will be in construction by 2017.