It Happened Here: At the Water's Edge: Resiliency in Lower Manhattan

Focusing on the vulnerability and management of the city’s coastline, At the Water’s Edge: Resiliency for Lower Manhattan is part of It Happened Here's Framing the Future series. Over the 2025 Fourth of July weekend, It Happened Here is celebrating the 400th anniversary of the founding of New York City with a day of programming devoted to each century of the city’s life. On the fifth and last day, we'll look at New York in the 21st century with the Framing the Future series of panels, which explores the multiple urban challenges and opportunities ahead.

New York City’s identity as a global capital of finance and culture is rooted in its origins as a seaport. At the epicenter of over 520 miles of waterfront is Lower Manhattan, where it started 400 years ago with the arrival of the Dutch. Since then, even the boundary of where land meets the water has changed – in some cases dramatically. Learn from experts what is at risk and what is being done to protect Lower Manhattan from tidal flooding and coastal storms, and to ensure that all New Yorkers continue to have access to the jobs, subways, and infrastructure that thrive in this central hub. With 19 of 28 subway lines, 512,000 riders per day and 10% of all jobs in NYC, resulting in $74 billion in annual GDP (8% of the City’s total), downtown is indispensable to New York’s future. A range of current resiliency initiatives will be reviewed, including East Side Coastal Resiliency, Lower Manhattan Coastal Protection, and Battery Park City flood protection and water management systems. Discussions will also include how changes at NOAA, FEMA and the insurance sector may impact response and recovery to the next climate event, and its impact on the real estate and financial markets.

Event Booklet

Speakers:
Matthijs Bouw, Founder and President, One Architecture
Jonathan Marvel, FAIA, Founding Principal, Marvel
Kimberlae Saul, AIA, Vice President Planning & Design, Battery Park City Authority
Alexis Taylor, Vice President for Climate Resilience, NYC Economic Development Corporation

More Events in This Series:
July 7, 8:30–11:30am ET: It Happened Here: NetherlandsNow: Framing the Future
July 7, 2–3pm ET: It Happened Here: People First For Lower Manhattan

Moderator:
Catherine McVay Hughes, Board of Directors, Battery Park City Authority; Lower Manhattan Development Corporation; Lower Manhattan Historical Association; Financial District Neighborhood Association; South Street Seaport Museum; Princeton Climate Institute; President's Council, CERES

About the Speakers:
Matthijs Bouw is a Dutch architect and urbanist and founder of One Architecture, an award-winning Amsterdam and New York-based design and planning firm. Educated at the Delft University of Technology, Bouw directs the Urban Resilience Certificate Program for the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design, where he is Professor of Practice and Rockefeller Urban Resilience Fellow. A co-leader of the BIG Team that won the Rebuild by Design competition for the flood protection of Manhattan, Bouw is currently part of the multi-disciplinary teams executing the first phase of the East Side Coastal Resiliency project for Lower Manhattan, as well as planning the Lower Manhattan Coastal Protection project.

Jonathan Marvel is the Founding Principal of Marvel and a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Born in Puerto Rico, Marvel is an architect and urban designer with over 30 years of experience and has led Marvel’s efforts across countless typologies. In 2017, Marvel co-founded Resilient Power Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricane Maria, and since then has spoken on behalf of the island’s needs at TEDx Dartmouth, The Architectural League, AIA Puerto Rico, and many other venues. Educated at Dartmouth College and Harvard University’s GSD, he is the recipient of national and international design awards including a 2019 Presidential Citation by the American Institute of Architects, the AIANY Medal of Honor in 2024, and was named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People of 2019.

Kimberlae Saul is a licensed architect who has worked across multiple disciplines in shaping urban and campus environments in New York City. Currently serving as the Vice President for Planning & Design at BPCA, Saul is responsible for overseeing its capital planning, design, and sustainability activities, including the oversight of long-term capital projects. Educated at the University of Southern California and Columbia University’s GSAAP, Saul was previously the Campus Architect at Pratt Institute. She is currently a Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt Institute, and a part-time faculty member at The New School. She is also co-chair of AIANY’s Design for Risk and Reconstruction Committee.

Alexis Taylor serves as Vice President of Climate Resilience at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) where she is responsible for leading a portfolio of resilience and waterfront projects. These include neighborhood-scale resilience projects such as the Financial-District & Seaport Climate Resilience Master Plan; resilient waterfront greenway planning and design; and climate risk assessment tools to understand multi-hazard climate impacts across NYCEDC assets and inform future planning priorities. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania and MIT, she previously worked for the Bureau of Flood Resilience, Engineering and Construction at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and was a Senior Project Manager with Rebuild by Design.

Catherine McVay Hughes is a community activist who currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Battery Park City Authority, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the Lower Manhattan Historical Association, the Financial District Neighborhood Association, the South Street Seaport Museum, the Princeton Climate Institute, and is on the President's Council of CERES. Educated at Princeton University and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, she is the former Chair of the Manhattan Community Board 1.