The author of this article obviously toured the facility to see the structure of the switch station, the author states that most switch stations are ugly, but when you combine art to the walls it can be quite pleasing to the eye. The author also spoke with the Mayor of the City of Newark to get his take on the development and the purpose.
The Aim of this organization is to examine the dangers and amount of lead water in Newark. The article states that Newark water department exceeded the federal "level" for lead in it's water.
The article describes infrastructure as something that needs to be built with a focus on people as well as the environment. This can improve transportation (reduced air pollution in Newark), create a more sustained access to power and energy, increase economic mobility, make communities more resilient, improve health, etc. This company has done work on sustainability projects in regards to infrastructure in Newark, which demonstrates their engagement with sustainable and resilient infrastructure.
Nearly half of Newark's school's are contaminated with dangerous levels of lead. Or so they were two years ago when this article was published. This relates to infrastructure because we are poisoning poor, primarily black and hispanic communities, whom already have low resilience. Because they live in empowerished neighborhouds, their children go to lower income schools, and when they drink the water provided there, they put themselves at risk of cancer, infertillity, and other results of lead poisoning. If Newark's infrastructure was more balanced between white and black communities, there would not be impoverished areas that have poisonous drinking water at schools, as the water standard in the schools would have been raised to that of higher income communities.
This article explains the horrible effect Sandy had on the Shore area. The devastation to the entire area. People sufffered and are still suffering. This article shows interviews from many different people on how they over came and built back from Sandy.
The incredible amount of awful potholes in Newark called for this report. This report lists all of the streets and the dates that they will be paved in Newark, and it is one fat list. Newark roads are awful. Bad roads=poor infrastructure= weak resilience. If there is a disaster, someone who lives in a poor area may hit a pothole and be completely stranded and die, as a result of the poor infrastructure of our roads in Newark. I once hit a pothole in Newark and the bang from my wheel hitting the edge of the hole was loud and drastic enough for me to worry about a flat tire. I didn't get a flat, fortunately, but my tire frame was bent.
This article explains that there is still desvestation from Hurrican Sandy. Raw sweage seeped in the Passica River and the efforts to remove it still exist. New Jersey's infrasture is very vulnerable. The DEP developed a 230 million system to build flood walls and hopefully this will help in case of future storm.
The author of this article obviously toured the facility to see the structure of the switch station, the author states that most switch stations are ugly, but when you combine art to the walls it can be quite pleasing to the eye. The author also spoke with the Mayor of the City of Newark to get his take on the development and the purpose.
"The Secret Sauce" "Mayor Ras Baraka jokingly called the art/collaboration joked about Newark’s seemingly forever-ongoing revitalization. Alluding to the process that created the building he stood in front of, Baraka called art and collaboration—between public and private, between community and architect—the “secret sauce” of successful neighborhood revitalization".
stated by David Adjaye “What I’ve learned in architecture and design is that, when the opportunity seems complicated, that’s when your creativity has to rise to that opportunity,” firm principal David Adjaye told the crowd.
The article points out how in need the city was of the switch station, after Super Storm Sandy, many over half of the residents were out of power, this due in large to the poor infrastructure and the way it handled overloads when a diasester hit. The switch station would elimnate all of those issue by upgrading the infrastructure to handle issues in extreme weather conditions.
The switch station will help in the future if another storm occurs. This will reassure the reisdences of the city that power will be restore quickly or they will not loose power all together. Along with that the switch station is not an eye sore, the residence of Newark made it very clear that was on of the requirements that the facility not be ugly.
The article focuses on rebuilding more resilliently,
"At the forefront of this work is NJIT’s Center for Resilient Design, housed at the university’s College of Architecture and Design. Established immediately post-Sandy, the Center conducts research and serves as a clearinghouse for expertise, ready-to-build designs, case studies and best practices. The Center is accessed by state and local leaders, business owners and residents living in areas especially vulnerable to flooding and storms."
This article.video explains how a bunch of grade school children decided to learn how to prepare for emergency storm situations. The FEMA for kids organization came to First Avenue School in Newark, NJ and put on a presentation how to plan and organize when a disaster stricks. The FEMA organization explained how to keep your pets safe what you need to have availiable for your pet, food, blanket's etc. They also reviewed first aid kits and what to place in the kits, bandages, antibotics, bandaids. etc.