Justice
Rebuilding After Disasters Is Largely a Legal Challenge
Without addressing the complexities of local law, even the most resilient designs risk lingering on computer screens and drawing boards without implementation.
When we think about designing places to be more resilient, we tend to think of gritty interventions in the physical environment. But a successful resilience-focused project must also contend with another kind of environment: the legal one.
After a major natural disaster, the redevelopment process opens up what might seem like intractable legal issues, including property buy-outs, beach access, insurance policy, and cross-jurisdictional governance. As the Sandy-affected region rebuilds to better confront future storms, planners and designers need to develop systems for addressing legal infrastructure as much as the physical environment. Without doing this, designs risk lingering on computer screens and drawing boards without implementation.