The East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) emerged from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Rebuild by Design competition, which sought innovative ways to the resiliency of communities impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Spanning 2.5 miles along Manhattan’s east side within the FEMA 100-year floodplain, the project protects and enhances the resilience of a diverse residential community of over 110,000 New Yorkers, while safeguarding critical infrastructure and public assets such as the South Street Seaport and the city’s economic core. Rather than separating the city from its waterfront, the design introduces a new public realm that strengthens connections across the FDR Drive and transforms flood protection into a tapestry of everyday experiences. Conceived as a “Parkipelago” —an archipelago of green, elevated park islands — the project integrates protection, play and ecology into one continuous landscape. Each island is programmed with sports fields, gardens, lawns, and play areas for all ages, creating a dynamic environment shaped through deep community engagement. Additionally, a network of paths, promenades, and bridges weaves these islands together, forming the connective tissue of the waterfront. Steps, ramps, and terraces are choreographed to create multiple levels of flood protection while maintaining universal accessibility, allowing people to walk, play, and gather along a terrain that also safeguards the city from storm surges. At key locations, flood gates and deployable elements are seamlessly integrated into the park’s topography, maintaining views and water access while ensuring safety during flood events.
The project is opening in phases. The first phase of East River Park, inaugurated in May 2025, brings a variety of new amenities to the Lower East Side community, including basketball and tennis courts, picnic and BBQ areas, a multiuse turf field, open lawns, and zones for nature exploration and water play. A system of “bridging berms” between FDR Drive and the park reimagines access, enhances views, supports diverse plantings, and creates improved open spaces along the waterfront. At Stuyvesant Cove, elevated landscapes, a new ferry landing, cultural facilities, and kayaking amenities establish a vibrant, connected waterfront. The East Side Coastal Resiliency project represents a new paradigm of urban resilience — a Parkipelago where infrastructure meets culture, flood protection becomes public space, and city and river are reunited through a living landscape of community, ecology, and design.
Project Data
Design: BIG
Other designers involved in the design of landscape:
– BIG Landscape role: Full-Scope, from Concept to Construction Administration.
– Collaborators: AKREF Engineers, Arcadis, JACOBS, MNLA, Hardesty Hanover, Siteworks, Wesler Cohen, Hazen & Sawyer, ONE architecture, Pentagram.
The 2.5-mile project is located within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 100-yeat floodplain and spans from Montgomery Street to East 25th Street.
Year completed:
Part 1 Completed 2025
Part 2 In Construction
Photo credits: The copyright information is indicated in each image filename
