Overview: The New York City Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency is a city agency created to address infrastructure concerns in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
How to Use This Resource: This report outlines precisely what elements of New York City’s infrastructure are vulnerable to extreme weather, what has been done to fortify it, and what remains to be done. Updates have followed in the city’s OneNYC initiative (2016 report)
Adapting to Climate Change in Coastal Parks
Overview: The National Park Service is a branch of the United States Department of the Interior and is responsible for the upkeep and protection of national parks.
How to Use This Resource: Journalists will find a comprehensive report on how rising sea levels threaten national parks and what action is underway to address this threat.
Flood Insurance
Overview: The Center for NYC Neighborhoods is a nonprofit dedicated to preventing foreclosure, rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy, and promoting affordable homeownership.
How to Use This Resource: This toolkit for New York City residents provides up-to-date information on flood insurance and risk assessment in the five boroughs. It includes an interactive map and a full report on flood insurance.
Hurricane Sandy Rebuild By Design Competition
Overview: In response to Hurricane Sandy, U.S. HUD Secretary Donovan launched Rebuild by Design, a design competition model to develop innovative, actionable solutions for a more resilient region in the Northeast.
How to Use This Resource: Each of the projects profiled here found new ways to use design as a means to rebuild after Hurricane Sandy. This work is at the vanguard of urban resiliency action.
Hurricane Sandy Recovery Progress Report
Overview: This report provides updates on the progress of the Office of the Mayor’s Housing Recovery Operations and the Build it Back Program in the three years since Hurricane Sandy first hit New York City.
How to Use This Resource: The city intends to provide financial relief and expedite recovery for homeowners and better engage local communities directly in the rebuilding process. This report provides a detailed analysis of those efforts, as well as the Build it Back Program, which offers financial assistance to homeowners who were hit by the Hurricane Sandy.
Infrastructure Update Three Years Later: Progress Being Made Toward A More Resilient New York
How to Use This Resource: This archive of reports examines how New York City’s infrastructures, such as its transportation systems and public housing, fare after being hit by Hurricane Sandy. It is updated monthly.
Renewable Energy: Cutting Pollution, Creating Opportunity
Overview: The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is the agency responsible for the conservation of natural resources and enforcing the state’s environmental laws and regulations.
How to Use This Resource: Journalist will find information on energy policy in New York State – who provides it, how it is distributed, and what percentage is renewable. There is also information on state plans to to upgrade distribution infrastructure and increase reliance on clean energy.
Dawn of the Smart City? Perspectives from New York, Ahmedabad, Sao Paulo and Beijing
Overview: The Wilson Center is a non-partisan policy forum that addresses global issues through independent research to draft actionable policy recommendations.
How to Use This Resource: This collection of essays examines the application of smart technology innovations in New York, Sao Paulo, Beijing and Ahmedabad to combat the risks of climate change.
National Landmarks at Risk
Overview: The Union of Concerned Scientists is an independent consortium of scientists and advocates that work to develop and promote sustainable policies worldwide.
How to Use This Resource: Climate change has put many of the United States’ iconic landmarks and heritage sites at risk. This report is a selection of case studies that illustrate the urgency of the problem. According to its findings, the Statue of Liberty, the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Boston Historical Districts, and Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado could all face dire fates without action.
Resilient Cities: A Grosvenor Research Report
Overview: Grosvenor is a privately owned property group with properties across the globe that advocates for sustainable growth and climate adaptation.
How to Use This Resource: This report ranked the major cities of the world by climate resiliency. American cities dominated the top of the list and only two European cities, Stockholm and Zurich, made the top 10. The lowest ranking cities were those with high population forecasts and shoddy infrastructure, such as Mexico City. This data will be useful to journalists looking for contextual information.
Bloomberg’s Hidden Legacy: Climate Change and the Future of New York City
Overview: Inside Climate News is a Pulitzer prize-winning, nonprofit news organization that covers clean energy, carbon energy, nuclear energy and environmental science.
How to Use This Resource: Mayor Bloomberg’s initiatives to fortify New York City after Hurricane Sandy have since become a model for urban adaptation across the globe. This book details those initiatives.
Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding: Strategy Stronger Communities, A Resilient Region
Overview: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Hurricane Sandy is a federal agency that oversees disaster relief funding and investment in resilient infrastructure.
How to Use This Resource: This report has extensive data on Hurricane Sandy’s impact on Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and the Shinnecock Indian Nation. It also clearly outlines the strategies federal government has taken and will take to repair and strengthen the coastline’s infrastructure.
Rising Seas
Overview: National Geographic Magazine is the official magazine of the National Geographic Society in Washington D.C. It covers issues pertaining to geography, history and world culture.
How to Use This Resource: In this multimedia project by National Geographic, reporter Tim Folger examines the process of deciding what is worth protecting on our nation’s coastline and what must be abandoned. His reporting is complemented by several valuable datasets on rising sea levels.