Sandy Provides Opportunity for NYC to Lead on Climate Adaptation

New York has shown in the past that it can survive extreme events and come back stronger, says Richard Florida, and in the aftermath of Sandy, the area "has an obligation not just to rebuild but to show the world how to rebuild the right way - smarter, greener, more resilient than ever."

In addition to improving flood control and reducing its carbon footprint, Florida argues that the New York region, "must also bolster its resiliency by creating a less centralized power grid with more built-in redundancy, passing regulations that discourage development on floodplains and encourage the restoration of barrier islands and wetlands that can buffer surges and developing technology that facilitates crowdsourcing of critical information."

"Great cities don't restore themselves according to their original blueprints; they adapt to new circumstances and change."