Project Statement

Rikers Island, in the southern Bronx, NYC, currently houses ten detention facilities and over 6,000 inmates and is set to close by 2027 to be replaced with a borough-based jail system.  This proposal and multi-scalar design intervention argue that Rikers can play an even more significant role in serving justice after the prison closure, becoming a catalyst for reducing systematic injustice by converting one of the Bronx's weaknesses—its prevalence of marginal landscapes, including Rikers itself—into a strength. Targeting New York's 43% recidivism rate, it proposes that a transformed Rikers could pilot improvements for over 2,400 marginal landscapes in the Bronx, aiming to break the cycle of reoffending and re-incarceration.

Project Narrative

Like Rikers in the Bronx, New York's islands epitomize historical marginality. Historian Bess Lovejoy says that Manhattan's striving to show off an idealized urban landscape necessitated alternative spaces for society's undesirables, turning these islands into sites for outcasts, asylums, prisons, sewage disposal, and landfills. Among them, a few, like Roosevelt and Randall's Island, were lucky to be saved through urban renewal projects. However, others, like Rikers Island, still are places for isolated facilities like prisons and asylums.

The bad reputation of Rikers Island's detention facilities and its ineffective punitive policies, evidenced by a recidivism rate of 42%, prompted a significant policy shift in 2017. New York City decided to move from a centralized county-based jail system on Rikers Island to a borough-based one, aiming to complete this transition by 2027. Yet, the future of Rikers Island remains a pressing question. This issue becomes even more critical with climate change and rising sea levels, which are expected to submerge much of the island by 2100. Addressing this question begins with a vision that can be conceptualized as post-carceral landscapes.

This proposal argues that Rikers can play a larger role in serving justice after its closure as a prison. It can become a catalyst for reducing systemic injustice by transforming one of the Bronx's weaknesses—its prevalence of marginal landscapes, including Rikers itself—into a strength.

The project's initial phase involved determining which neighborhoods the Rikers inmates come from by linking their addresses to specific zip codes. This analysis identified neighborhoods such as South Jamaica, Ocean Hill, Bedford, Mott Haven, Clifton, and East Harlem as primary sources of the prison population. This analysis revealed the "Archipelago of Injustice," a metaphorical concept comprising layered socio-economic and environmental injustices that drive individuals towards crime. This framework illustrates how socio-economic crises amplify vulnerability to environmental challenges.

"Archipelago of Injustice" revealed that the Bronx is among the most crime-prone regions in New York City. This project sorts over 2,400 Bronx’s marginalized sites into five size categories, suggesting initiatives to improve neighborhood living quality. Three distinct sites were selected in the Bronx for focused intervention, each representing a unique scale within the broader scheme. The largest of these, Rikers, serves as the centerpiece of our ecological and architectural renewal, while two other sites complement this overarching strategy by addressing varied dimensions of urban redevelopment.

Rickers is designed to adapt to future ecological changes with reshaped coastlines featuring stepped wetlands that serve as biodiversity hotspots and sea-level buffers. The site includes a Historical Core with wildlife observation areas and trails. An Industrial Park in the north repurposes existing structures into activity hubs connected by ferry by reusing abandoned gantries. Infrastructure improvements enhance accessibility, parking, and bicycling. A green corridor buffers airport noise, while a Wetland Park and Flood-Adaptive Tree Sanctuary address sea-level rise. Materials from Rickers are repurposed into gabions, recycling resources and embedding historical elements into the new landscape. Rickers exemplifies adaptive urban design, balancing ecological integration with sustainability and resilience.