What is the NYC Comprehensive Waterfront Plan?
The New York City Department of City Planning, on behalf of the City of New York and in collaboration with agency partners, citywide and local groups and everyday New Yorkers, has created the Comprehensive Waterfront Plan to outline a 10-year vision for a more equitable, more resilient and healthier waterfront for all New Yorkers.
Since the City released its first Comprehensive Waterfront Plan nearly 30 years ago, much of NYC’s waterfront has been cleaned up and transformed to address critical needs for housing, jobs and open space. Beginning in 2010 and every 10 years thereafter, the City restarts a formal process of thinking collectively about NYC’s waterfront and creating a vision for the next decade and beyond.
This Plan, NYC’s third Comprehensive Waterfront Plan, builds upon the vibrancy of today's waterfront while also putting forth new strategies for an equitable, resilient and healthy waterfront in the face of climate change.
The Plan is organized by six topic areas, each with its own vision for the next 10 years of NYC’s waterfront. Each topic area includes a set of goals to advance a vision for a more equitable, more resilient and healthier waterfront. Each goal is followed by strategies the City has identified that can achieve the specific goals.
Beacons
This Plan’s 10-year vision is guided by three “beacons” or values: Equity, Resiliency, and Health.
Equity
Removing Barriers to Housing, Jobs and Open Space Across All Waterfront Communities
An equitable waterfront means that all waterfront communities can access quality affordable housing, well-paying jobs, and safe, attractive open spaces.
This Plan aims to improve the lives of New Yorkers by identifying strategies to improve the quality of waterfront public spaces, ensure fair access to workforce development and other sources economic opportunity, and enhance day-to-day quality of life across all waterfront neighborhoods.
Resiliency
Equipping Communities to Thrive in a Changing Environment
A resilient waterfront means that residents and communities have the capacity to cope with everyday stresses of climate change and to minimize disruptions from extreme heat and flooding.
The roadmap to a resilient future incorporates consideration of climate risk into every decision about infrastructure investments, land use planning and operational strategies to sustain a safe, thriving city while reducing vulnerability to the effects of climate change. The City’s response to climate change also includes maximizing opportunities to shift to renewable energy and taking additional measures to that reduce greenhouse gas emissions from critical infrastructure, vehicles and buildings.
Health
Enhancing Our Waterfront and Waterways to Maximize Well-Being
A healthy waterfront means that people, natural areas and wildlife can all flourish and support each other’s well-being.
This Plan aims to strengthen the connection among these elements — the health of NYC waterways, access to open space and thriving ecosystems — with the health of residents of waterfront communities. Through this Plan, the City can promote equitable investments in resources to provide health-related benefits for NYC’s waterways, waterfront communities and all New Yorkers.