An archipelago of parks against the tides: BIG transforms Manhattan’s waterfront

The new intervention by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group along Manhattan's East River marks a significant milestone in New York's climate adaptation program. The East Side Coastal Resilience Project (ESCR), inaugurated in part in the fall of 2025, affects a 2.25-mile stretch of waterfront between Montgomery Street and East 25th Street. Conceived as a "parkipelago" - an archipelago of connected parks that rise above the coastline - the intervention integrates flood protection barriers with green spaces and public services for the Lower East Side neighborhoods.

The project – developed under the direction of the New York City Department of Design and Construction with Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, ONE Architecture & Urbanism and AKRF – translates the vision of the “BIG U” presented by Bjarke Ingels in 2014 for ten continuous miles of coastal protection after Hurricane Sandy. With an investment of $1.45 billion, ESCR aims to protect over 110,000 residents from storms and exceptional tides, fusing the technical infrastructure with an accessible and everyday landscape.

Located entirely in the flood-risk zone, the system combines walls, mobile anti-flood gates and raised parks that protect strategic infrastructure — including pumping stations, an electrical substation and numerous schools and libraries. The result is a continuous coastal strip that acts as a hydraulic defense and as a civic space for sport, leisure and meeting.

The reopening of the first areas of East River Park, near the Williamsburg Bridge, includes new sports fields, barbecue areas, an amphitheater, a multifunctional field and two pedestrian bridges that connect the park to the urban fabric on Delancey Street and Corlears Hook Park. The land, raised by 2.5 meters, houses 600 new trees and over 21,000 shrubs and perennials, strengthening the ecological resilience of the river front.

According to Bjarke Ingels, the project represents "the first physical manifestation of a decade-old vision: an undulating and continuous landscape that transforms flood protection into a plot of daily experiences". Each green island is dedicated to a defined use together with the community, with new crossings on the FDR highway that reconnect the city to the river.

At the northern end of the system, at the height of East 23rd Street, stands the new Solar One Environmental Education Center, a wooden building designed by BIG for NYCEDC and Solar One. The center, of 600 m², uses wooden structures and a 21 kW photovoltaic coverage with battery storage, capable of guaranteeing energy autonomy in the event of a blackout. The classrooms, raised 6 meters above sea level, overlook the river with large windows and connect to terraces and educational gardens, offering an educational program on energy and climate adaptation.

The East Side Coastal Resilience Project also connects to the North/West Battery Park City Resilience project, also signed by Big, Scape and Arcadis, which will complete the continuity of the resilient coastal front up to Tribeca. Together, these interventions outline a new environmental infrastructure for Manhattan: a landscape system that combines hydraulic engineering, architecture and civic participation, transforming coastal defense into a collective and accessible experience.