Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency

Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency (LMCR) refers to a set of projects aimed to address potential impacts of climate change on the Lower Manhattan area of New York City. The Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency projects involve constructing flood barriers, as well redesigning and elevating waterfront public spaces to reduce the risk of flooding from coastal storms and sea level rise in Lower Manhattan. The projects focus on Battery Park City, The Battery, the Financial District, South Street Seaport, and the Two Bridges neighborhood.

The need to protect New York City against major storms and sea-level rise became more urgent in the wake of the extensive Hurricane Sandy flooding in 2012. The initiative builds on earlier design proposals including The Big U, which also informed the adjacent East Side Coastal Resiliency project in East River Park. The projects are a more localized alternative to the New York Harbor Storm-Surge Barrier, and has some continuity with the centuries-long Lower Manhattan expansion trend. It seeks to compensate for the historical loss of wetland buffer zones, and would be integrated into the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway.