On May 31 – June 3, the Congress of Polish Geography was held at the Collegium Geographicum in Poznań. The results of research conducted as a part of the CoAdapt project were presented by Agnieszka Dudzińska-Jarmolińska, PhD Eng. (UW) during the speech entitled “Protecting cities from floods based on the example of New York”.
Below is an abstract of the presentation:
Many great cities have been built along rivers. This is because rivers played a significant role in their development and prosperity. However, locating cities along riverbanks has also brought numerous risks, such as cyclic flooding and unpredictable catastrophic floods. Besides the benefits derived from the presence of rivers, riverside cities have faced and continue to face substantial losses. Scientific predictions indicate that rivers, especially in European cities, are increasingly likely to overflow due to the observed climate changes worldwide. Cities are trying to protect themselves from these incidents using a variety of tools. Engineering solutions, often referred to as “gray infrastructure” have been particularly popular in this context. However, green infrastructure solutions, which are more friendly to both the environment and people, are increasingly being used to protect cities from the effects of flooding. Such solutions are currently being implemented in New York to protect its coastline. The purpose of the paper will be to present the latest adaptation and revitalization measures that have been implemented over the past 10 years in New York, aimed at protecting the city from the effects of climate change, especially flooding. These measures are being consistently implemented and are aimed at transforming the city – post-industrial waterfront into a network of interconnected urban parks. These parks incorporate the latest Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) – strategies that adapt the urban space to climate changes and promote increased urban biodiversity, along with the restoration of pre-existing ecosystems. The research was conducted in 08/2022 in New York as part of the IdeaLab program and the international CoAdapt project, which received a grant of 1.4 million euros from Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway under the EEA funds. The project is operated by the National Centre for Research and Development and is co-financed at 15% from the national budget.