5 Bold Ideas for Reinventing the Coastline After Hurricane Sandy

The Rebuild by Design initiative, part of the federal Sandy rebuilding effort, is supposed to be a different kind of design competition – one that results in more than pretty renderings by self-satisfied architects. The goal is to create and implement innovative projects that address specific community needs, in the process uncovering strategies for more resilient cities that can be replicated around the world.

It's suffused with idealism and ambition, and has attracted many of the world's top engineering and design firms, educational institutions, and architects. All of them are eager to devise solutions for current vulnerabilities and for a future when rising sea levels reconfigure the coast beyond recognition.