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Prof. Johnson’s Plan for Rikers Island Published by RPA

A Plan for Renewable Rikers by Professor Andrea Johnson MLA ’15 in collaboration with the Renewable Rikers Coalition, an outgrowth of her Kaplan Fellowship project, has been published by the Regional Plan Association and is getting significant attention, from the Architect’s Newspaper to the New York Times. Her project envisions Rikers Island replacing its appalling jail complex with sprawling generative infrastructure, including a wastewater resource recovery facility, solar and storage farm, and educational facilities.

Design support was provided by another alum, Crystal Yifan Xing MLA ’17.

Prof. Johnson gave a preview of this project at City College’s Rising Urbanists conference in spring 2022. The rehabilitation of Rikers Island was also the subject of Professor Hillary Brown’s Spring 2022 Case Studies in Sustainability course, which presented a similar vision to the Department of Environmental Protection in May.

See the full plan document here.

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