On the Water: Palisade Bay is the collaborative initiative of a group of engineers, architects, landscape architects, planners and students to imagine a “soft infrastructure” for the New York/New Jersey Upper Bay by developing interconnected infrastructures and landscapes which rethink the thresholds of water, land and city. The proposal is sited on the water, along the coastal edge and within the local communities. It presents a new coastal planning strategy which not only mitigates potential damage from storms but also provides new ground for recreation, ecologies, agriculture and urban development.With climate change and sea level rise acting as catalysts for this work, a quantitative analysis of dynamic systems serves as the foundation for this new soft infrastructure which both enriches the ecology of the urban estuary and creates a vibrant culture on the water. Research from this project is the inspiration for the exhibition Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront, opening at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in March 2010.
