As one looks throughout the history of Manhattan's edge, one may realize how it has changed throughout the years in order to better adapt the city to the needs of its society of the time. This master plan addresses the necessary changes to make NYC a resilient city as it embraces the current climate crisis and it re-adapts itself once again for the future. By taking Venice as inspiration and letting the flood be part of the city life, a new New York is brought to life and a new urban plane is created in which the citizen becomes a vital element in the most arterial part of a city, the streets. The city is completely transformed on the ground level to rethink how the ground plane is occupied and experienced by the citizens. Social, economical and environmental problems are then simultaneously addressed thus creating a more interwoven relationship between water, ground and buildings.

The NYC 2050 master plan was conceptualized by studying the history of Manhattan's edge, the climate crisis predictions by the United States Landfalling Hurricane Probability Project, and several climate studies produced by the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.