Amid rising sea levels, increased flooding, and more extreme weather events, unprecedented investments in climate infrastructure are reshaping our cities’ coastlines. While conversations around adaptation increasingly associate such sites with newfound vulnerability and disaster, urban waterfronts have been central to public life for centuries. The next generation of climate infrastructure is embracing a broader, more human, definition of resilience, measured not just by how effectively cities are protected from disaster but also the quality of civic life this infrastructure enables. During Climate Week NYC 2026, hear from two leading firms shaping this people-centered approach to resiliency efforts on opposite coasts. Panelists Laura Crescimano, Principal and Co-Founder of SITELAB urban studio and Claire Weisz, Principal of WXY architecture + urban design will discuss major projects in San Francisco and New York that approach urban waterfronts as both critical resilience systems and vital civic spaces. Moderated by Rob Freudenberg, VP, Energy & Environment at Regional Plan Association, the conversation will examine the challenge at two interconnected scales: the waterfront as part of a larger resilience system protecting our cities and as an everyday public space that can foster connection and joy. Highlighted projects include SITELAB’s Port of San Francisco Waterfront, Fisherman’s Wharf, and Pier 70;and WXY’s Rockaway Boardwalk and Coastal Conservation Center, and the recently reopened Jones Beach Bathhouse. How can cities balance large-scale protection with public access and everyday use? How can we adapt historic destinations for climate change without losing the qualities that make them distinct? And how can resilience investments create waterfronts that are not only safer, but also joyful, welcoming, and responsive to the communities they serve? Hosted at BerlinRosen’s office in lower Manhattan, the panel will be followed by a happy hour and networking session that allows attendees to continue the conversation with leaders working across the public realm in the spheres of design, development, planning, and policy.