Infrastructure protectionMajor U.S. cities brace for climate change impacts
American cities facing eroding coastlines and greater risk of storm damage are instituting new policies, adopting new approaches, and establishing new practices in order to be better prepared for the impact of climate change in the coming decades. There are different approaches, but 2014 marks a year of major commitments to practices aiming to control and mitigate future climate change impacts on the country’s urban centers.
In major American cities such as San Francisco, New York City, Miami, and Chicago, urban planners and city leaders are factoring in climate change impacts over the next several decades.
As thePew Charitable Trusts reports, American cities facing eroding coastlines and greater risk of storm damage are instituting new policies, adopting new approaches, and establishing new practices in order to be better prepared for the impact of climate change in the coming decades. There are different approaches, but 2014 marks a year of major commitments to practices aiming to control and mitigate future climate change impacts on the country’s urban centers.
In San Francisco, the Capital Planning Committee has decreed that all new construction projects involving city and county agencies must take into account rising sea level trends for the area and offer ways to adapt within building plans.
“Our approach is not simply to build a wall and think the problem is solved, but to explore all options, including looking to nature for solutions, like wetlands,” said Debbie Raphael, the director of city’s Department of the Environment, the organization responsible for much of the new decree’s.
Additionally, Governor Jerry Brown has signed legislation allowing for the creation of a Sea Level Rise Database which will collect data and offer solutions for climate change strategies across the state.
New York City has responded in kind as well, having launched a $20 billion initiative to strengthen coastal dunes, upgrade building codes, and protect electrical infrastructure in any flood-prone area, including all major facilities such as hospitals.
Miami and its surrounding metro areas are also working to plan for what is sure to come to low-elevation areas. Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties have formed the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact collectively to plan for an expected sea level rise of as much as two feet by 2060.
Miami Beach has invested $400 million in plans to counteract tidal waters and storms that can flood the city streets. Among these, new plans that detail “minimum elevations” for new sea walls and elevated road ways are only part of the greater effort.
In Chicago, greater emphasis is being placed on “living shorelines” with investment in wetlands and natural landscapes in the hopes that nature can provide a suitable buffer for the city against rising waters. Called greenscapes, these man-made natural lands can reduce storm runoff and flooding while also being cost effective. Currently, transportation departments in the city are evaluating the vulnerability of roadways and how greenscapes can help.
“We’ve made rapid progress in a short amount of time,” said Steve Adams, the climate adaptation director for Sustainable Communities. Speaking on the progress made by cities in 2014, Adams is hopeful, “It’s astonishing how clear it is in 2014 that climate change adaptations, or resilience, is really an idea in good standing, where the conversation in 2008 or 2009 was just beginning to emerge.”
