sentences:  After the NPL designation, several firms tried to redesign the area surrounding the canal to meet EPA's principles.One of the proposals was the Gowanus Canal Sponge Park, suggested by DLANDstudio, an architecture and landscape architecture firm based in Brooklyn.The firm designed a public open space system that slows, absorbs, and filters surface water runoff with the goal of remediating contaminated water, activating the private canal waterfront, and revitalizing the neighborhood.