Janinder Bhatti  SACRIFICIAL FLOODING: The Manhattan Bluebelt

Central Park S & 7th Ave, NYC. 10019

The scheme proposes the ‘Sacrificial Flooding’ of Central Park in order to deal with the increasing problem of storm water flooding in New York, which results from the increasing extremities of the climate and the cities outdated water infrastructure system. The proposal seeks to not only prevent the problem of flooding in the city but to exploit it. 

A new network of city streams are implemented to collect, clean and channel storm water to Central Park which is redesigned as a blue belt at the heart of the city and an inhabitable water infrastructure. This new water source is exploited to produce microclimates, energy, food and drinking water for the inhabitants of the city. Polluted storm water is drained through the city streams to a peripheral moat, from which water is processed through bio-filtration ponds into a large water basin. Existing landmarks are retained as fragments within the water basin of the newly flooded park. Vertical gardens, forested promenades and garden gates are inserted as inhabitable water infrastructures housing both recreational and water processing facilities.

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