Retreating from the waves

Abstract

Oceans are warming, sea level is rising, storms are intensifying, sunny-day floods are increasing, and coastal development is increasingly threatened. There are two long-term response choices: Move back from the threatened shoreline or hold the shoreline in place. For major low-lying cities, extensive hard structures (seawalls) could be justified to stem flooding. In suburban communities such as those on many barrier islands and floodplains, purposeful, coordinated, and planned managed retreat can be the answer to the threat of inundation. This will include physically moving buildings and infrastructure to higher ground, or abandonment and destruction of threatened buildings, leaving behind space designated for public use as natural space. This may even become a solution in large cities. In this chapter, a variety of policy mechanisms for such moves of people and buildings are discussed from examples around the world.