Resilient Coastal Communities Project

The Resilient Coastal Communities Project seeks to foster actionable, equitable solutions to flood risks along with complementary benefits like habitat restoration, job creation and more empowered communities.

The urgent need to address the growing risk of storm- and sea level rise-driven flooding, locally and around the world, led the Climate School to make coastal resilience one of its first four transdisciplinary initiatives. Here in the New York metropolitan area, this initiative will be served by a new Resilient Coastal Communities Project (RCCP), under the auspices of the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CSUD), working in partnership with the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance. The RCCP’s principal goal will be to foster new collaborations between practitioners and researchers, as envisioned in Columbia’s Task Force Report on Directed Action, to help develop actionable, fundable, and equitable solutions to flood risks that also deliver complementary benefits, like habitat restoration, job creation and greater community cohesion and help maintain the Climate School’s commitment to fairness, social justice - and anti-racism.

The RCCP aims to address the challenges of coastal resilience through a combination of iterative engaged scientific research, community engagement and innovation; academic and clinical support for enhanced community participation in public planning; communications initiatives to build public awareness and support effective action; classroom instruction; and workshops, conferences & other convenings.

In short, the job of the Resilient Coastal Communities Project is to support learning and foster effective solutions, developed in partnership with frontline communities, governments and other stakeholders, to climate-related threats.

RCCP - Activities and Achievements in 2024.pdf

Resilient Coastal Communities Project: Executive Summary, initial Project Team and Advisory Board

More Information can be found at The Resilient Coastal Communities Project (CSUD)

Contact: Paul Gallay, Project Director [email protected] Cell: 914-574-7331

News and Publications

Book Chapter: Transparency, Accountability and Justice: Why Governments Must Share Flood Protection Planning Leadership with Frontline Communities

White Paper: Improving Coastal Resiliency Projects with The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Protecting coastal communities through investment in green infrastructure and communities

RCCP Comments on the US Army Corps of Engineers' Draft Environmental Justice Strategic Plan vision, goals, and objectives

Case Study: The Green Infrastructure Handbook.

News Article: America’s Great Climate Migration Has Begun. Here’s What You Need to Know.

News Article: NYC Environmental Justice Activists Feel Ignored by the City and the Army Corps on Climate Projects

Television Documentary: Terra X: Protecting NYC From Flooding (at minute 39)

Blog: New Article Elevates Community Voices: Frontline Leaders’ “Top Ten” Ideas for Better Resilience Planning

Student Blog: Strengthening Community Ties: Insights from a Climate Knowledge Exchange on Campus - June 2024 (PDF Version here)

Journal Article: Advancing Equitable Partnerships - Frontline Community Visions for Coastal Resiliency Knowledge Co-production, Social Cohesion, and Environmental Justice (RCCP in Geoforum - June 2024).pdf

Project Report: Resilient Coastal Communities Project Update - February 2024

Working Paper: Designing Community-led Plans to Strengthen Social Cohesion: What Neighborhoods Facing Climate-driven Flood Risks Want From Resilience Planning

Working Paper (Español): Diseñando Planes Dirigido por la Comunidad para Reforzar Cohesión Social: Lo que los Vecindarios que Enfrentan Riesgos de Inundación Impulsados por el Clima Quieren de la Planificación de la Resiliencia

Working Paper: Opportunity For Improvement: What Participants in NYC’s Climate Knowledge Exchange Seek from the City to Help Foster Resiliency

Presentation: Towards A Justice-Oriented Engagement Strategy For The New York-New Jersey "Harbor and Tributary" Coastal Resilience Study

Paper: Horizontal & Urban-scale Coalitions to Address The Wicked Problem of Coastal Adaptation

Curriculum Guide: Coastal Resiliency Unit Planner (High School Earth and Space Studies)

Blog: Teaming Up for Coastal Resilience and Climate Justice in NYC

Blog: Resilient Coastal Communities and Climate Adaptation: Lessons from New York for New Zealand

Contribution: ICSI UN Convening: Accelerating Implementation of Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in Infrastructure.

New York City Council, Committee on Waterfronts: RCCP Testimony on Nature-Based Solutions to Coastal Flooding Risks (December 1, 2022).

Statement: Advocates Celebrate Breakthrough in Campaign to Overhaul Flawed Army Corps Flooding Plan for NY-NJ Harbor (November 13, 2023)

The Resilient Coastal Communities Team

The Resilient Coastal Communities Project brings together a distinguished interdisciplinary team with a track record of engaged research and advocacy, informed by a deep commitment to environmental and climate justice. RCCP is a partnership between the Columbia Climate School and the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance. Our core team is:

Victoria Sanders, Climate and Health Programs Manager, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance.

Paul Gallay, Project Leader & Senior Research Associate, Center for Sustainable Urban Development. Faculty member, Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development.

Jacqueline M Klopp, Director, Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CSUD) Faculty member, Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development.

Bernadette Baird-Zars, Assistant Professor, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University.

Annel Hernandez, Lecturer in International and Public Affairs, Columbia School of International and Public Affairs.

Hugo Sarmiento, Assistant Professor, Urban Planning Program, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Dr. Michael A. Petriello, Interdisciplinary Environmental Social Scientist

Eunice Ko, Deputy Director, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance.

Robert Rosso, Masters in Public Adminstration - Research Associate.

Shagun Kar, Masters in Climate and Society - Research Associate.

Hellas Lee, Masters in Climate and Society - Research Associate.

Leel Moka Dias, Undergraduate Student Research Associate.

Amelia Ding, Undergraduate Student Research Associate.

Advisory Board

Erica Avrami, James Marston Fitch Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation, Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP).

Jacqueline Austermann, Assistant Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DEES).

Christian V. Braneon, Co-Director, Environmental Justice/Climate Just Cities Network.

Elizabeth Cook, Assistant Professor in Environmental Science, Barnard College.

Michael Gerrard, Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia Law School.

Joachim Goes, Lamont Research Professor, LDEO.

Karenna Gore, Founder and Executive Director, Center for Earth Ethics, Union Theological Seminary.

Radley Horton, Lamont Research Professor, LDEO. Faculty member, Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development.

Klaus Jacob, Special Research Scientist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO).

Joyce Klein-Rosenthal, CSUD adviser. Faculty member, Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development.

Nilda Mesa, Director, Urban Sustainability and Equity Planning Program, CSUD.

Walter Meyer, Principal Urban Designer, Local Office Landscape Architects.

Melissa Miles, Executive Director, New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance

Kate Orff, Professor & Director, Urban Design Program, GSAPP. Faculty Director, Center for Resilient Cities & Landscapes, GSAPP.

Thaddeus Pawlowski, Managing Director, Center for Resilient Cities & Landscapes, GSAPP.

Dorothy Peteet, Adjunct Senior Research Scientist, LDEO. Adjunct Professor, DEES.

Maureen E. Raymo, Co-Founding Dean, Columbia Climate School (CCS). Director, LDEO.

Andrew Revkin, Director, Initiative on Communication Innovation and Impact, CCS.

John Scialdone, Senior Staff Associate, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN).

Adam Sobel, Professor of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics and of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia School of Engineering.

Ariam Torres Cordero, Assistant Professor of Planning, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras

Melissa Tier, PhD Candidate, Princeton School of Public & International Affairs.

Margie Turrin, Senior Staff Associate, LDEO.

Judith S. Weis, Professor Emerita of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University.

Beizhan Yan, Lamont Associate Research Professor, LDEO.

Dan Zarrilli, Special Advisor on Climate and Sustainability, Columbia University.

Alumni

Hannah Su-An Lin, Graduate Research Assistant, Masters in Climate and Society, Columbia Climate School

Aya Morris, Fulbright Visiting Student Researcher, Massey University.

Lexi Scanlon, Graduate Research Assistant, Masters in Climate and Society, Columbia Climate School

Erin Cooper, Student Research Associate

Kyle Wire, Research Associate, Urban Planner

Partners and Supporters

The Resilient Coastal Communities Project seeks to unite what are now very disparate efforts to foster better coastal resilience planning through a more collaborative approach to research, curriculum, policymaking and project development. Of central importance to any such work is a more successful and intentional approach to community empowerment, equity, inclusion and justice. As such, strong, catalytic partnerships with and support from the following NGOs, whose core missions relate directly to healthy waterfront communities and ecosystems, is essential to the success of this project.

With Thanks to RCCP’s Funders