POUGHKEEPSIE – The City of Poughkeepsie has been selected as the host community for the Cornell University’s fall 2021 Climate-adaptive Design Studio.
Offered in collaboration with the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Hudson River Estuary Program, the fall CaD studio will feature the work of third-year graduate students and will take place from September through December of 2021.
“This is a great opportunity for the city to further develop some of the climate-resiliency concepts that were included within the pending LWRP update and address real problems of flooding and risk on our waterfront,” said City Planning Director Natalie Quinn. “The designs that come out of this studio will get us one step closer to implementation-ready projects that a number of State agencies are eager to fund.”
The CaD studio assists municipalities in evaluating their waterfront and developing a vision for integration of diverse uses in ways that are visually appealing, highly functional, and resilient to flooding and other climate-related risks.
The studio highlights the choices faced by communities impacted by sea-level rise, which is projected to continue through the end of the century and beyond.
During and after the CaD studio, communities examine options, including nature-based solutions for stormwater and shoreline management, engineered shoreline reinforcements, adaptation of infrastructure at risk of flooding and inundation, and strategic retreat from highly vulnerable areas.
Since 2015 the CaD studio has worked with the cities of Kingston and Hudson, the villages of Catskill and Piermont, and the Town and Village of Ossining.
