Waterfront Conference 2023

Social media plays a rarely explored role in communications that occur to and within communities facing neighborhood-scale changes from infrastructure projects. This panel discusses social media as both a driver of support and of opposition, and the ways project practitioners can manage and address its power and drawbacks. Changes in the use of Twitter will be addressed as well as the role of social media in crisis communications.

The Port of New York and New Jersey is now the largest in the country and one of the oldest. Similar to other infrastructure in the northeast, years of deferred maintenance have accumulated while the challenges of climate change bear down on the region. Pier and wharf replacement and restoration in the New York–New Jersey harbor could require billions of dollars in investment to keep land-based port operations at current levels. This panel explores how government and the private sector must rise to the challenge and the implications for our regional economy. Discussion includes the role of public-private partnerships, funding sources, and what policies and priorities must be addressed by both states for a sustainable future. The panel also considers what models for funding and project delivery exist in other parts of the country that can play a role in meeting this challenge.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is invested in long-term mitigation, adaptation, and resilience of New Jersey’s economy, communities, infrastructure, and natural resources throughout the State. One the resiliency projects currently being implemented by NJDEP, in partnership with the City of Hoboken, New Jersey, is the Rebuild By Design – Hudson River (RBDH) Project, which takes a multi-faceted approach to improve physical, ecological, economic, and social resiliency. Initiated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2013 in response to Hurricane Sandy through the unique Rebuild By Design competition, RBDH will be built throughout the City of Hoboken, and will extend into Weehawken and Jersey City, with the goal of addressing coastal flooding from major storm surges and high tides. This panel will give a history of the project from the start of the Rebuild By Design competition to its upcoming construction phase, detail its award-winning community engagement and outreach program, and present lessons learned in implementing an almost two-mile long, multipurpose flood risk reduction structure in a dense, urban environment.