When Superstorm Sandy blew into New York City on October 29 2012, it fractured much of the region’s critical urban infrastructure and revealed significant social, economic and political fault lines across the city. Storm surge poured into power plants and disabled New York City’s water and transit systems, and in the wake of the floods New York City has been reassessing its complex relationships to water.  As plans for adaptation to climate change come closer to reality, we will visit some of the most important sites impacted by Sandy, exploring the complex balance between the natural and man-made worlds while looking at “grey-to-green” solutions to water, power, and public space.

Highlights include: Stuyvesant Cove Park and the SolarOne environmental education center; the massive ConEd generating station at 14th Street whose failure switched off the lights in Lower Manhattan; the Department of Environmental Protection sewage pump at 13th and D (site of the city’s first High Water Mark!); East Village community gardens using green infrastructure to cope with stormwater and reduce CSOs; East River Park, site of the city’s largest post-Sandy flood protection project; and Pier 42, a new community-generated waterfront park serving the rapidly gentrifying Two Bridges community.