Urban Data II

Rensselear Polytechnic Institute

Spring 2021

In this seminar students examine the impact of rising sea levels and significant coastal flooding events on cities and infrastructure. Emphasis is placed on using open-source data to design and communicate in a legible way.

Detail areas are outlined, left-click to zoom in, right-click to return

Island of Hawai'i

This map is a timeline of the devastating natural hazards that had occurred on the Island of Hawai’i. Due to the fickle nature of the climate, the start of one hazard can cause another to occur. Our proposal is a way to help the locals find safe shelters, as well as help mitigate the effects of volcanic smog.

Students: Ayesha Ayesha & Yeonju Song

Staten Island | Creating resilient, flood adaptive landscape

Staten Island was devastated by Hurricane Sandy, its South and East coast are the most susceptible to erosion and coastal flooding. This crisis will only worsen with the dangerous and rapidly increasing effects of climate change.

The proposal suggest an enhancement of the ecological resilience system of wetlands, as well as creation of habitat and recreation area for hybrid human and nonhuman use.  

Restored wetland and woodland would drastically improve Staten Island's resiliency to storms by creating a buffer belt of constructed and natural wetlands to collect and purify stormwater run-off from the city, and ultimately using collected water for irrigation, aquatic playground and replenishing the natural riparian wetlands.

Students: Lilit Harutyunyan & Samantha Suastegui