Climate change is real, and happening now — but exactly what that means for coastal cities is surprisingly uncertain. Engineers at Princeton’s Form Finding Lab choose flexibility over fortification to protect coastal cities from flooding.

Four tales of the cities that arise from moral and environmental disaster. Can we ever really start anew?

After Superstorm Sandy, a historic housing style is on the brink of extinction on Staten Island's East Shore. A. F. Brady explores what stands to be lost, and gained, in government efforts to rebuild the area after the storm.

Elizabeth Rush traces the implementation of New York State-led property buyouts in three Staten Island neighborhoods and weighs the benefits and costs of this potentially important model for addressing the vulnerability of coastal communities.

Aaron Reiss dives into Beyond the Grid, an ambitious plan underway in the Two Bridges neighborhood of Lower Manhattan to create a more resilient, connected, and sustainable Lower East Side by fusing heating, power, and communications infrastructures.

James McConnell, Assistant Commissioner for Strategic Data at the NYC Office of Emergency Management, dissects the process by which data turns into emergency response and reminds us that effectiveness in a crisis requires long-term planning supported by accurate information.

Elizabeth Rush looks at the particular challenges facing public housing authorities in high-risk flood zones and follows a design competition for a stormwater management plan in Jersey City to consider how responsive, site-specific architectural innovation can inform broader strategies for strengthening vulnerable communities.

Ten final plans presented for Rebuild By Design.

Maria Aiolova of Terreform ONE discusses the design group's ONE Prize, an annual design and science award that this year focused on how cities can adapt to future challenges of extreme weather, yielding winning proposals that address coastal conditions from Staten Island to Tokyo to Sumatra.