Planning for Coastal Resilience: Best Practices for Calamitous Times

by Timothy Beatley

Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and magnitude of coastal storms around the globe, and the anticipated rise of sea levels will have enormous impact on fragile and vulnerable coastal regions. In the U.S., more than 50% of the population inhabits coastal areas. In Planning for Coastal Resilience, Tim Beatley argues that, in the face of such threats, all future coastal planning and management must reflect a commitment to the concept of resilience. In this timely book, he writes that coastal resilience must become the primary design and planning principle to guide all future development and all future infrastructure decisions. Resilience, Beatley explains, is a profoundly new way of viewing coastal infrastructure—an approach that values smaller, decentralized kinds of energy, water, and transport more suited to the serious physical conditions coastal communities will likely face. Implicit in the notion is an emphasis on taking steps to build adaptive capacity, to be ready ahead of a crisis or disaster. It is anticipatory, conscious, and intentional in its outlook. After defining and explaining coastal resilience, Beatley focuses on what it means in practice. Resilience goes beyond reactive steps to prevent or handle a disaster. It takes a holistic approach to what makes a community resilient, including such factors as social capital and sense of place. Beatley provides case studies of five U.S. coastal communities, and “resilience profiles” of six North American communities, to suggest best practices and to propose guidelines for increasing resilience in threatened communities.

Genres: Science, Urban Planning, Urbanism

200 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid book on coastal resilience with case studies and lots of pertinent methods for communities to slow down erosion and other coastal issues.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Focusing mainly on America, the author explores the hazards associated with climate change for coastal communities. Half of USA's population lives on coasts, he says, and sea defences can be inadequate in the face of today's more severe storms, while luring people to live more densely in areas where they feel secure but are not. This book was grant-aided by North Carolina, but photos include storm damage from Hurricane Katrina and we hear about other coastal communities worldwide.

Diagrams of hazard management and disaster mitigation and recovery are presented, as produced by expert thinkers in the field. We're told that a resilient world needs to have: Diversity, ecological variability, modularity, acknowledging slow variables, tight feedbacks, social capital, innovation, overlap in governance, ecosystem services, according to Walker and Scott. This means that, for instance, we should move to prevent loss of wetlands which help to reduce the damage of hurricanes. A community's resilience is partly determined by social networks and disaster management preparation. Coastal natural hazards are listed in a table which include such events as mudslides, tsunamis, lightning strikes and hail, so it's not just sea rises and storms which are a concern.

Seasonal or second homes, and retirement homes, add to the population and housing density in coastal areas and increase the hard surface sprawl of homes and roads. Ethnic and demographic variables, such as not owning a car, being elderly, or not speaking English, can increase a person's or a community's hazard risk. Industry is also at risk. Energy might be dearer in the future, so wetlands and berms should be put into place before the building becomes prohibitively expensive. The author often states what appears to be obvious - that people should be steered away from building on floodplains and fault lines, while a healthy coast ecosystem is better at protecting us - but obviously there are people who need to be told.

I'm pleased to see that solar panels, urban trees, parks, small stores, city forests, urban creeks and native species are all promoted. A healthy social community will also promote information sharing, caring, and aid in restoration of normality after a disaster. Green infrastructure should be mapped early and used to reduce power costs and hazards, such as planting trees to cool buildings in summer and mitigate windchill or snowdrift onto roads.

Some difficulties in identifying and implementing resilience structures are given, from political feelings to cost and competition for resources. Short-term thinking, unwillingness to face future disaster and lack of education should be countered in every project plan and consultation with the public. Critical facilities should be located inland. Also, try to keep the people healthy and fit.

Areas from Oregon to Palm Beach and Chesapeake Bay, to New Orleans and New York, are discussed. Case studies are given, for instance of a Vietnamese community which repaired itself quickly after the Katrina flooding. A nice checklist at the end covers building manufacture or adaptation, such as insulation, better double glazing and passive solar heat gain, with wood heat and food planting.

Overall this seems to be a compilation of many studies and well-researched information from around America, rather than an individual's own views. The principles given are sound and applied throughout the book, not just in one chapter. Ecologists, urban planners, architects and homeowners would all benefit from reading Planning For Coastal Resilience. I would not limit it to people who live on the coast either, as evacuations may occur in the future, either temporary or on a prolonged basis, and other communities will have to absorb the people thus displaced. I can recommend this book to those who like to think ahead and prepare for the future.