Spotlight Vol. 8, No. 17: Water In, Water Out: Learning From The Dutch

By Sarah Neilson, RPA

It's been four centuries since the Englishman Henry Hudson left Holland sponsored by the Dutch East India Company and sailed into what is now the New York harbor and up the river now named after him. Hudson failed to find the fabled "Northwest passage" he was looking for, but the "very good harbour" (as described by Hudson's mate Robert Juet) still remains.

To celebrate Hudson's journey and help ensure that the region is poised to meet the challenges of the next century, RPA recently hosted a delegation of Dutch designers, planners, and engineers on their own journey of discovery as part of the two-day H209 Forum: Water Challenges for Coastal Cities - From the Dutch Delta to New York Harbor. In this case, the exploration was how New York and other estuary/delta cities can prepare for the changes that climate change is expected to bring to our waterways and coastlines. Our thesis was that by using new approaches in land use, ecosystem restoration, and water resource management, we could actually improve the region's economy, environment, and sense of community while also meeting the challenges posed by imminent sea level rise.

During a three hour charrette that was part of a the larger-two day conference, Dutch and American design professionals tackled three waterfront sites in the region in order to both demonstrate and learn about the different approaches planners from each country often take to waterfront areas. Participants developed plans for sites in Sunset Park, Greenpoint, and Staten Island's St. George, incorporating many existing plans for the case study sites in their consideration of each site's challenges and opportunities. By the end of three hours, the three teams had come up with some interesting and illustrative plans and had identified a key difference in the way Dutch and American planners view the water's edge. The Dutch, in their centuries of adapting to the sea, have generally taken a "living with water" approach, or a "Water-in" approach. Meanwhile, Americans have more generally fought to tame the shoreline with bulkheads and other harsher restrictive action, or a "Water-out" approach. An example of this would be that instead of keeping water out via a higher bulkhead, the American approach, water could be brought into the city via a canal, the Dutch approach. The H209 site plans helped illustrate how New York could incorporate the Dutch "Water-in" approach to better meet the challenge of adapting to climate change.

The St. George Staten Island team addressed city building, water access, and ecology. Their concluding proposal featured a "Central Harbor Park" with St. George Ferry Terminal as an iconic, intermodal transport hub within the Harbor. Additional "bluebelts" and "blue valley" pathways, public transit corridors leading to ferries, would increase access to the ferry network and transforming outmoded industrial uses near the water's edge. At the water's edge, the design accentuates the Kill Van Kull shipping lane and support activities on the North Shore. The plan improves parking and interaction near the baseball stadium, including a bike and pedestrian trail near the shore. Shoreline ecology would be improved with reed beds and landscape gestures. Newly created view corridors and pedestrian footbridge access would increase the visual and physical connections from the North Shore uplands to the harbor.

The Greenpoint design involved a blurring of the hard edges between water and shore. In their concluding plan, the Greenpoint team envisioned enhanced links between the rivers and the bay and the upland water resources, including the intermittent resource of storm water, to handle a rising sea. Addressing the large scale, their design incorporates Newtown Creek and a new swath of soft, wet landscape extending to the new Bushwick Inlet Park, to act as major sinks for large stormwater or flooding events. The neighborhood-level design responds to particular opportunities at this location: a new esplanade design and flood-able street designs. For the individual parcels or households, their plan promotes small, incrementally significant interventions around energy, water resources and green design: greening/wetting of the mid-block; passive storm water management; green roofs, and energy saving design.

The Sunset Park team creates a new "blue and green" identity that builds on its maritime culture and industry. At the waterfront, they propose harnessing tidal and wind energy, preserving industrial uses, and maintaining the potential for a deep water port. Moving upland, they propose bringing water inland to create urban wetlands, and combining the Gowanus Expressway renovation with flood protection measures, open space and public access. Softer edges throughout the study site will enhance recreational use. Looking out across the harbor, Sunset Park can become an attraction within the New York region, especially when connected by a dense network of ferries.

In just three hours, the charrette helped to shake the New Yorkers out of old ideas with a jolt of fresh energy from European colleagues. Building on a design maxim that "the proof is in the section," the session let us "step away from the bulkhead" and generate innovative solutions to the challenges that face us. Perhaps this international collaboration is the best way to plan for Hudson's harbor--our blue heart.

RPA organized the charrette in partnership with the Netherlands Water Partnership, and Martin Zogran of the Harvard-Netherlands Project on Climate Change, Water, Land Development, and Adaptation. Bonnie Harken of Nautilus International Development Consulting led the Sunset Park team.