lightblueline

Scientists from Rutgers University recently explored the options available to respond to expected sea-level rise. As reported in the Asbury Park Press (May 15, 2007) they stressed the vulnerability of the Jersey shore, and the need to build natural defenses, not walls, against the rising seas.

"About 30 percent of New Jersey's bayshore can't retreat naturally before rising waters without running into manmade barriers such as roads or buildings, said Michael Kennish, a Rutgers research professor.

In today's WIRED website (April 24, 2007) you will find an article on a proposed new city on the outskirts of Shanghai, China. This city is built on the tip of a nearby island at the mouth of the Yangtze River. What the authors don't say is that building an entire city on land less than two meters in elevation makes no allowance for future sea-level rise. In fact, they chose to build very close to the ocean.
In an email response to this blog, the article's author, Douglas McGray, added that the architects are mindful of the potential for sea-level issues, but felt that Shanghai is going to expand, and that the Dongtan project provides an opportunity to try out solutions to building near the ocean; solutions that might be of value to other coastal cities that might not be able to move their infrastructure out of the zone of vulnerability.
You can read the whole article here: Pop-Up Cities: China Builds a Bright Green Metropolis.
Rejecting previous plans that pulled the built environment back from the sea coast, the architects decided to create a new Venice: "Arup had to figure out how to keep Dongtan above water. Chongming Island is flat and barely higher than sea level. The previous planners, thinking defensively, had pulled development back to the middle of the site, imagining Dongtan as an island city with no harbor, no waterfront caf s, no ocean-view condos. Gutierrez thought that was kind of a waste.