Two years after Hurricane Sandy battered its coast, New York City residents are back on their feet and thinking hard about an urban future in a changing climate. Head to the beachy backwaters of America’s largest city with journalist Meera Subramanian as she tells the surprising stories of how sand dunes, wetlands, and oyster beds are bringing storm and flood resilience back to a forgotten landscape. This slide show is part of Orion’s Reimagining Infrastructure series.

Photographs and renderings courtesy of Josh Raab, Kate Orff and SCAPE PLLC, and Local Office Landscape Architecture. Click through to read Meera Subramanian’s article “The City and the Sea,” from the March/April 2014 issue.