As NYC struggles to cope with the damage from Superstorm Sandy, officials and experts are revisiting the possibility of building, at great cost, a protective barrier around its coast.
In the midst of the recent storm, a two-mile-long barrier system built in 1969 at the cost of $14.5 million, kept Stamford, CT protected from an estimated $25 million in damage to businesses and homes, reports Mireya Navarro. Stamford's mayor, Michael A. Pavia, said: "It was extremely effective in protecting areas that would have been flooded completely by this storm. It made all the difference in the world." If it worked in Stamford, can it work for New York?
"The technology of movable sea barriers, from Stamford's modest flap gate to London's mighty 10-gate system in the River Thames, has long intrigued engineers and planners contemplating a solution for low-lying areas of New York City," writes Navarro. "The notion is that such a system could one day block surges from Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean into the East River and New York Harbor," thus keeping the areas behind the barrier, including Lower Manhattan, safe. However, for NYC, which has opted for smaller-scale and less-costly solutions in the past, this begs a number of delicate questions on topics such as the marring of vistas and whether scientists can "accurately predict the size of hurricanes that the sea gates would one day have to withstand."
Skeptics argue that what worked for Stamford is not the solution for New York, where costs and implications are grander. Dr. Jeroen Aerts, a geographer and expert on water risk management and climate from the University of the Netherlands, "estimates that any barrier system would cost $10 billion to $17 billion." And this does not take into account the millions of dollars, time and effort needed to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study to examine a range of factors, including its design and potential environmental drawbacks.
One skeptic, Philip Orton, a storm surge research scientist with the Stevens Institute of Technology adds, "I don't think we've had our big disaster where hundreds of people die to make this palatable. But it certainly will change the debate."
FULL STORY: Weighing Sea Barriers as Protection for New York

What ‘The Brutalist’ Teaches Us About Modern Cities
How architecture and urban landscapes reflect the trauma and dysfunction of the post-war experience.

‘Complete Streets’ Webpage Deleted in Federal Purge
Basic resources and information on building bike lanes and sidewalks, formerly housed on the government’s Complete Streets website, are now gone.

San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
The city wants to close a loophole that allowed developers to build apartment buildings on single-family lots as ADUs.

U.S. Miles Driven Rose by 1 Percent in 2024
Americans drove a total of 3.279 trillion miles in 2024, but per capita VMT stayed the same.

Seattle Recorded Zero Bike Deaths in 2024, per Early Data
The city halved the number of pedestrian deaths compared to 2021.

Study: London ULEZ Rapidly Cleaning up Air Pollution
Expanding the city’s ultra low-emission zone has resulted in dramatic drops in particle emissions in inner and outer London.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
Harvard GSD Executive Education
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research