Judy Huynh

Judy Huynh

Empowering Change through Data

Part-time adjunct professor at NYU Wagner and data and GIS analyst at Rebuild by Design. I take government data on flood risk and disaster spending and turn it into maps and tools that people can read and use.

Urban planner, New York City

Huynh /win/ Vietnamese

Featured project

Selling Flood Risk NYC

A block in Kissena Park, Queens, where lives were lost during Hurricane Ida, had four homes listed for sale in 2024, with no mention of flood risk. How many homes are being sold in flood-prone areas, and are buyers being told? A listing shows an asking price, not what a buyer paid, so the study was built on the city’s own record of one- to three-family home sales in 2023, from the Department of Finance.

See the project
Cover of the Selling Flood Risk NYC report

Work

12 projects, 2022 to 2026

Data tells us a lot. The people who live there tell us the rest. My work puts both on the same map.

  • The Manhattan Bridge shot straight down from a helicopter

    Manhattan Bridge, doors off

  • The sun setting between buildings down a Manhattan street

    Manhattanhenge

  • A Chinatown street seen through a fire escape lattice

    Chinatown, through a fire escape

  • Pedestrians blurred crossing a street in Zurich

    Zurich

  • An empty corridor at Grand Central

    Grand Central, track 29

  • The Midtown skyline from Long Island City at dusk

    Long Island City at dusk

  • The Jersey City skyline from the air at dusk

    Jersey City from above

  • Bed-Stuy, marching band

Photographs

8 frames

  • River to River

    42nd Street read lot by lot from the Hudson to the East River. It shows who owns the land and…

    Screenshot of River to River

  • Numerology on a Tidbyt

    The day’s two numerology numbers on a Tidbyt, a small LED display, refreshed every night by a script on GitHub.

  • The Basket

    Who can find out what food costs in New York before walking into a store? This maps how many food…

    Screenshot of The Basket

  • Manifest Station

    Press the board and it flips over to one short manifestation. This is the web prototype for a small machine…

Builds

4 builds

  • Multi-hazard planning is adaptation

    A wildfire can make the next rainstorm far more dangerous, and the batteries powering the clean energy shift bring fire risks of their own. Our maps, insurance and codes still…

    Read it →

Blog

4 posts

All posts →

I’m optimistic about learning different ways urban planning can take me.