Tag: Hurricane Sandy

A Second Life For Old Shipping Containers: Farms, Shops and Housing

Posted on by robbie

You’ve seen them stacked six high on cargo ships pulling into port, the multi-colored mosaic of corrugated metal boxes carrying products from the other end of the ocean. Built for seamless transition between ships, trucks and trains, the standard size for these crates of steel or aluminum is usually 20-feet long. Worldwide, there’s the equivalent of 34.5 million at that length.

The container’s best asset is its near-endless reusability, a quality that’s attracted those outside the maritime industry. We at NationSwell have written before about how these boxes revitalized downtown Cleveland by lining empty parking lots with pop-up shops, how a homeless man lived in one while he cleaned up a Southern California beach, and how they could be converted into solar power cubes. Seemingly all-purpose, we decided to look into some of the other surprising ways shipping containers are being (re)used to solve social problems. Here’s three inspiring projects we found:

Urban Agriculture

The United States imported more than $100 billion in food in 2013, the bulk of which is grown overseas in places like China, India, France and Chile. Rather than having our produce shipped to us in a container, two Massachusetts entrepreneurs — Brad McNamara and Jon Friedman — converted the boxes into Freight Farms. Inside their containers, dense stacks of plants and vegetables grow hydroponically, meaning their roots reach into a mineral-rich solution rather than dirt. “Our goal was to create a system that works the same in Alaska as it does in Dallas,” Friedman tells Outside magazine. It’s all controlled by computer — the intensity of the LED grow lights, the water’s pH balance, the density of nutrients released through the irrigation system — so crops can grow year-round. “Each farm is a WiFi-enabled hotspot, so your farm gets put down, it’s plugged in and it’s immediately on the web,” McNamara tells the local public radio station. Using a mobile app, farmers can set alerts and alarms. “So if you’re at home and it’s really cold outside, your farm’s covered in snow, you don’t actually have to leave your house to go check on things,” he adds. Each container can produce the equivalent of one acre’s worth of food.

Commercial Redevelopment

Reclaiming industrial materials is often a go-to for urban redevelopment. On the Jersey Shore, shipping containers that might have once been docked in the Newark Bay ports are being converted into stores and artists studios on the beach. In Asbury Park, N.J., Eddie Catalano sells ice cream; on a boardwalk nearby, another container run by Sari Perlstein offers boutique clothing. “I actually never thought it would be possible to get all the equipment that I need in such a small space,” Catalano tells the local paper. “Lo and behold, six years later, it works. It definitely works.” He says the structures aren’t the “most attractive,” but they’re highly functional. “It handles the elements well, it handles the weather well,” he adds. During Hurricane Sandy, the big box stayed firm on the boardwalk. Perlstein’s brick-and-mortar store, on the other hand, wasn’t spared from the flooding. It’s why she moved her operation into the box on the boardwalk. Now, “if there were a horrific storm we can get a crane and move that thing off. We can take it away,” she says. “That is a plus. Because if it was a building again, you’d just wave it goodbye.”

Homes for the Homeless

Hardy structures, watertight and designed not to rust, shipping containers have been proposed as a solution to our housing crunch. In Myrtle Beach, S.C., the Veterans Housing Development, a recently founded nonprofit, is refurbishing shipping containers into a permanent place for homeless veterans to stay. “Anyone notices and sees homeless veterans on street corners and in tent cities around the Horry County area, and around the country. … I have a passion for this because I hate seeing veterans out there on the streets,” Brad Jordan, a disabled veteran and the nonprofit’s executive director, tells The State. “There’s a lot of funding available for veterans housing, but not a lot of housing available.” The group recently finished their first one-bedroom home and displayed it at a fundraiser. Their ultimate goal is to create a gated village somewhere in town, “a secure and safe environment with programs that are going to assist the veterans,” Jordan adds. “If we build 40 [homes], there would be 40 filled tomorrow. The need is there.”

The Giant Seawall That Will Protect New York City

Posted on by robbie

Every New Yorker remembers the harrowing pictures of cars floating at the entrance of the Carey Tunnel, the submerged subway stations and the decimation of Breezy Point. To protect New York City from the next big weather event, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) held a Rebuild by Design contest to find the best ideas to protect the vulnerable New York/New Jersey floodplain.
One of the winners (which will receive a federal grant of $335 million)? A concept called “The Big U.”
The Big U is almost exactly what it sounds like: a giant protective infrastructure project that would wrap “around Manhattan from West 54th street south to the Battery and up to East 40th street,” according to the Rebuild by Design website.
The Bjarke Ingels Group, an international design architectural firm that designed the Big U, is thinking big — envisioning more than just a seawall, but an entire system that doubles as a series of park and community areas, each tailored to a coinciding neighborhood.
According to the Verge, the Big U will also includes “a raised stretch of land known as the Bridging Berm acts as a natural dam, but also provides recreational green space for residents in the neighborhood” on the Lower East Side. A seasonal market placed under a raised section of the FDR could be shuttered from rising waters by panels that flip down to create a flood wall.
The White House has already designated another billion dollars for similar disaster relief ideas. In June, President Obama announced the National Disaster Resilience Competition, which invites “communities that have experienced natural disasters to compete for funds to help them rebuild and increase their resilience to future disasters.”

3 Reasons Why Sunday’s Historic Climate March Could Be the Start of Something Huge

Posted on by robbie

Thousands of protestors will cram the streets of New York City this Sunday, calling on world leaders to help stop climate change. But they’ll also have another message: “Welcome to a new chapter in the fight against global warming. This time it’s going to work.”
The People’s Climate March is expected to be the biggest-ever collective action against global climate change, and organizers are hoping the protest will mark a watershed moment in their fight.
For years, scientist and activists have been pleading for coordinated action to halt the warming of the planet, but world leaders have repeatedly failed to rise to the challenge. Since the disastrous United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen in 2009, global summits have not forged worldwide consensus on how to achieve the U.N.’s stated goal of restricting any future global temperature increase to no more than two degrees Celsius.
This weekend’s march is set to coincide with another one of these global meetings: The U.N. Climate Summit 2014. No decisions will be made at the event, which will be attended by 125 world leaders, including President Obama. But the summit will lay the groundwork for landmark U.N. climate conferences this December in Lima and next year in Paris.
Despite the failures of the past, organizers of the People’s Climate March see at least three reasons to hope this year.
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If Another Superstorm Hits, This Dirt Barricade Will Protect NYC

Posted on by robbie

Everyone — but especially New Yorkers — remember Superstorm Sandy’s seemingly endless destruction back in 2012. Costing the region billions of dollars, it was an example of what nature could do to our infrastructure and our society.
Preventing damage like what occurred is crucial — and a big part of what needs to be done to prepare for the future. That’s what the winning project of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rebuild by Design contest aims to do. And there’s no better way to do it than to also make some beautiful public space in the process.
The Bridging Berm is a new project on Manhattan’s lower east side. While there’s no timeline for completion, once it is finished, it will shelter 150,000 residents and a power sub-station from the effects of storms and rising sea levels.
The 2.19 miles along the East River that the Bridging Berm will occupy is currently a public park, though it has few entrances and is very isolated from the city. The Bridging Berm will change that — improving both access and the public space itself. Even more importantly, it will raise the riverbank to nine feet above its current level. Had this been around during Sandy, there still would have been four feet to spare.
Jeremy Barbour of Tacklebox Architecture tells Next City that “the strength of the proposal is in the way they have addressed both the vertical and the horizontal through a series of programmed berms and bridges that mediate the boundary between the waterfront and the edge of the city — defining a place for community gathering and a way to inhabit the in-between.”
And a defining place it will be, with bike paths along the water, boating and fishing areas, as well as athletic fields. Clearly, there will something for everybody.
This multipurpose space is just one of three components to the larger “BIG U” proposal in the Rebuild By Design contest; roll-down storm gates on the FDR bridge as well as a berm-and-educational facility in lower Manhattan are also part of the plan.
The Bridging Berm could have the largest impact, though. With such a dense population and the power station in the area, not to mention the improved public space, it is an exceptional urban planning vision.
DON’T MISS: 8 Inspiring Urban Renewal Projects

If Another Disaster Strikes, New York City Has a Plan to House Displaced Residents

Posted on by robbie

Hurricane Sandy unleashed a lot more than just wind and rain on New York City. As a result of the devastating storm, the city had thousands of displaced residents.
Big Apple officials learned a lot from the natural disaster, and one of the most important lessons is ensuring that citizens unable to return to their homes have a safe housing alternative while the city pieces itself back together.
Which is why the New York Office of Emergency Management is designing a housing prototype to hold refugees should another natural disaster strike the city. The “Urban Post Disaster Housing Prototype,” helmed by architect and Pratt Institute professor Jim Garrison, is a multi-story housing unit comprised of prefabricated modules that can be constructed in just 15 hours, according to Fast Company.

“A long time ago, we had a conversation about what it would take to house the homeless,” Garrison said. “People were coming up with all sorts of elaborate cardboard boxes. Finally, we came to our senses, in that a home for a homeless person is no different than a home for anyone else.”

The prototype includes three 480-square-foot-bedrooms assembled to form a walk-up on stilts while also providing wheelchair access. But the emergency housing project could also serve as an affordable housing model, according to Garrison, who says that the prototype could last 20 years.
In fact, part of the design includes ensuring energy efficiency through cross-ventilation and a balcony system that shades the unit from summer sunlight, which can save a resident two months a year from using an air conditioner, according to Garrison.

He’s also entertained the possibility of placing the unit on a barge anchored to the harbor, but it’s still unclear if it could weather severe storms.

For now Garrison is performing experiments on the prototype, which is perched on a hill near his firm in Brooklyn. As part of the test, The Pratt Institute and The New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering plan to invite residents to use the prototype for up to five days.

“The idea of this housing was to make it versatile enough so that you could install it in neighborhoods so that residents aren’t displaced, so they’re not sent to other neighborhoods,” Garrison said. “Your children can still go to the same schools they were part of. You can still be part of the social and economic circle of your neighborhood.”

MORE: Hurricane Katrina Inspired This Man to Revolutionize Emergency Housing

 
 

How One Simple Question is Helping New Yorkers Prepare for Hurricane Season

Posted on by robbie

“Do you know your zone?”
That’s the question New York commuters are being asked on billboards, in subway trains, on bus shelters, and on ferries as this year’s hurricane season approaches. (It officially begins on June 1.)
In the wake of 2012’s Hurricane Sandy (which killed 147 people and cause an estimated $50 billion in devastating damage along the eastern seaboard), New York City officials are ramping up for this year’s hurricane season by ensuring their residents are as prepared as they are. Which explains why the advertisements, which bear a vibrant bullseye, are popping up across the five boroughs, targeting the more than three million Big Apple residents.
Backed by the New York City Office of Emergency Management and design studio C&G Partners, the “Know Your Zone” campaign is designed to educate New Yorkers on how they should prepare for an impending hurricane based on the six different hurricane zones in proximity to the water. The outer red zone on the sign signifies the zone closest to the water, whereas the green is the farthest away.
MORE: How a Tornado-Stricken Town Became a Model of American Sustainability
Jonathan Alger, one of the designers behind the project, told Fast Company the purpose of the bullseye logo was to “create a symbol that would attract the eye no matter where it was placed or how fast it was moving by.”
The ads encourages residents to call or go online to find out what zone they live in and to learn, in the event of a hurricane, what measures of precaution they should take. The location of the ad determines its content. For example, bus shelter ads inform commuters which zone they’re currently in, while subway ones compel residents to log on and find out.
Joseph Bruno, the city’s commissioner of the office of emergency management, told the Associated Press that the devastation left by Sandy is a harrowing reminder that New York must be prepared as it heads into hurricane season.
To learn more, click here.

The Air Up There: New Jersey Helps Raise Shore Homes After Sandy

Posted on by robbie

New Jersey is giving some of its residents a lift—about five or six feet into the air.
The state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced it would provide up to $30,000 per resident to elevate 26 homes, which were some of the hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy two years ago.
Sandy, which rocked the Jersey shore on Oct. 29, 2012, devastated 346,000 homes in New Jersey, leaving behind an estimated $37 billion in damage.
The recipients, who live in the Atlantic County coastal town of Brigantine, are the first of 630 primary homeowners expected to be announced over the next month, according to Philly.com. The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which will dole out $100 million in grants through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), will aid residents with raising homes to meet new federal flood elevation requirements, prevent future flood damage and secure the cost of insurance rates.
MORE: This Brilliant 11-Year-Old Revolutionized Flood Prevention
The state is providing funding to the nine counties hit the hardest by Sandy, which include Atlantic, Ocean, Union, Bergen, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Monmouth and Middlesex, N.J.com reports. State officials are still reviewing the more than 3,000 applications they received through last September.
“Life in the air is fine,” 58-year-old Lee Popick, whose home was raised two months ago, told philly.com. “It’s kind of nice up here. You get a nice view. More wind.”
But for some, specifically older residents, higher homes poses problems. Which is why local companies like Mobility 123, a local independent living solutions company, are pitching in. Mobility 123’s Ryan Penn  told philly.com his company has already installed 15 wheelchair lifts, around $15,000 each, as well as 50 stair lifts in the wake of the program. Penn expects that number to double or triple this year.
But uprooting a home is not as simple as Pixar’s Up tells us. Boosting a house can cost an upward of $25,000 with prep and post-lift costs notching an additional $10,000 to $20,000. But Scott Brubaker, the DEP’s elevation grant manager, said there is no damage or income criteria for the federal funding, which means the program is fair game for those with Sandy wreckage. However, those who received some of the $600 million from the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation, and Mitigation (RREM) program cannot receive the Hazard Mitigation grant, so not all residents are jumping on board.
The DEP hopes to help around 2,700 primary homes across the nine counties, coinciding with the state’s buyout program of homes in damaged areas as well as the RREM program.
For now, the state continues to work through  grant applications for the next round of recipients, raising the bar—and roofs—on safety and damage prevention.