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New York City Is Weighing Ambitious Plans for Flood Defenses
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601850/new-york-city-is-weighing-ambitious-plans-for-flood-defenses/[font face=Serif][font size=5]New York City Is Weighing Ambitious Plans for Flood Defenses[/font]
[font size=4]Rising sea levels are threatening the city’s existence, but several bold plans could prevent the next catastrophe.[/font]
by Jamie Condliffe July 6, 2016
[font size=3]New York City faces a conundrum. Its low-lying land is at ever-increasing risk of flooding as climate change contributes to sea level rise, but many of those areas are also home to incredibly expensive real estate. In the short term, if it wishes to retain its position as a global center of business rather than simply relocating its residents, it needs to protect its inhabitants from the aquatic attack brought about by global warming.
In 2012, Superstorm Sandy brought a surge of water upon the city that was up to nine feet taller than a typical high tide. But a recent study in Nature estimated that by 2100, Antarctic thawing alone could raise sea levels by three feet, which suggests that extreme weather events could cause even more damage in the future.
There are many possible solutions. Some, such as the Blue Dunes concept, are audacious. That proposal suggests building a 40-mile chain of islands from New Jersey to Long Island to dissipate the huge quantities of energy within freak waves and reduce the impact of the next Sandy. Others—such as entirely redesigning streets and overhauling subterranean transport and utilities infrastructure—are likely too complex to enact.
The most compelling idea right now, it seems, has been proposed by Bjarke Ingels Group, a Danish architectural firm. That shouldn’t, perhaps, be surprising—the Europeans do, after all, know a thing or two about living with seas that are higher than land. BIG’s proposal is to build a gigantic berm around lower Manhattan, which could one day reach from 42nd Street in the east to 57th Street on the west. If, that is, the potential $3 billion required to build it can be scraped together.
…[/font][/font]
[font size=4]Rising sea levels are threatening the city’s existence, but several bold plans could prevent the next catastrophe.[/font]
by Jamie Condliffe July 6, 2016
[font size=3]New York City faces a conundrum. Its low-lying land is at ever-increasing risk of flooding as climate change contributes to sea level rise, but many of those areas are also home to incredibly expensive real estate. In the short term, if it wishes to retain its position as a global center of business rather than simply relocating its residents, it needs to protect its inhabitants from the aquatic attack brought about by global warming.
In 2012, Superstorm Sandy brought a surge of water upon the city that was up to nine feet taller than a typical high tide. But a recent study in Nature estimated that by 2100, Antarctic thawing alone could raise sea levels by three feet, which suggests that extreme weather events could cause even more damage in the future.
There are many possible solutions. Some, such as the Blue Dunes concept, are audacious. That proposal suggests building a 40-mile chain of islands from New Jersey to Long Island to dissipate the huge quantities of energy within freak waves and reduce the impact of the next Sandy. Others—such as entirely redesigning streets and overhauling subterranean transport and utilities infrastructure—are likely too complex to enact.
The most compelling idea right now, it seems, has been proposed by Bjarke Ingels Group, a Danish architectural firm. That shouldn’t, perhaps, be surprising—the Europeans do, after all, know a thing or two about living with seas that are higher than land. BIG’s proposal is to build a gigantic berm around lower Manhattan, which could one day reach from 42nd Street in the east to 57th Street on the west. If, that is, the potential $3 billion required to build it can be scraped together.
…[/font][/font]
