Today, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and ULI New York released a report outlining strategies for enhancing the resilience of Marlboro Houses, a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) development in Gravesend, Brooklyn. Ineligible for federal disaster recovery funding post-Hurricane Sandy, Marlboro Houses remains vulnerable to storm surge and other climate risks. The report’s recommendations focus on how NYCHA can protect the development from coastal flooding and extreme heat by enhancing campus green infrastructure, retrofitting buildings, and integrating resilience into upcoming operational and funding changes.

At the request of NYCHA, ULI New York convened a 7-member panel in February 2021, to study the site, interview a wide range of stakeholders and make recommendations as to how Marlboro Houses could be made more resilient to climate-induced hazards, considering its landscape, buildings, operations, and financing. The TAP report is based on recommendations from this panel of resilience and sustainability experts in architecture, landscape design, and real estate (see more on the panelists below).

The report recommends NYCHA:

• BUILD green infrastructure throughout campus, such as bioswales and rain gardens, and work with other city agencies to upgrade neighborhood green infrastructure to reduce impacts of flooding
• PURSUE comprehensive building retrofits that floodproof lower floors and aim for net zero carbon and Passive House status, to boost protection from extreme heat
• INTEGRATE resilience & sustainability upgrades into new funding streams
• ENHANCE transparency & accountability on chronic environmental concerns on campus that affect resilience through recent changes to management structure
• EVALUTATE resilient new construction and adjustments to first floors of existing buildings to create a vibrant, mixed-use campus that integrates with the surrounding neighborhood

Read the full press release here.