A study of the practices that allowed businesses such as Tom’s to reopen shortly after the storm, as well as other best practices, could serve as a model for other businesses in the community. This could be combined with a feasibility study of community facilities or other spaces within the neighborhood that could accommodate temporary work areas for displaced businesses after a future event, as well as recommended upgrades to existing business facilities to provide for disaster resiliency.
INFRASTRUCTURE One suggestion offered by the community was to improve the storm-water system to help alleviate future flooding, as the existing combined overflow system is overwhelmed during heavy rainfall and especially during storm surge. Another engineering approach suggested by the community to prevent flooding included constructing a sea wall along Coney Island Creek, and assessing the creek area for safety overall. The field team felt that an approach that incorporated “soft” infrastructure would be more effective, and that options could be explored for small and large scale solutions to alleviate the load on existing infrastructure during normal conditions and better handle water during flood conditions. For example: • At the macro-scale, building wetlands, swales, and/or other natural retention zones along the coastline in order to help absorb rising water before it reaches the street and adjacent homes. These measures could be designed as an infrastructural network and could be coordinated with a redesign of Coney Island Creek and beach adjacencies. • At the micro-scale, smaller bio-retention zones could be constructed within individual lots, to help absorb water at the inner block. • In order to address flash flooding and storm surge, retention tanks could be installed on individual lots and water could be directed to these tanks in a high volume scenario. • Bio-remediation strategies, such as the use of specific vegetation, could be employed throughout the neighborhood to remove contaminants from storm water.
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ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY NEW YORK