Coastal Cities Race to Adapt to Rising Seas

For coastal cities, the future is no longer an abstraction printed on a chart. It arrives at high tide, in flooded streets and backed-up storm drains, on days that used to be unremarkable.

Building with the water

The old instinct was to wall the ocean out. That still has its place, but planners are increasingly working with water rather than against it:

• Sponge parks that soak up surges and release them slowly.
• Restored wetlands that blunt storms before they reach the city.
• Elevated infrastructure designed to flood safely and drain fast.

Hard choices

In the most exposed neighborhoods, officials are beginning to discuss the option no one wants to name: managed retreat, moving people and buildings out of harm's way. It is expensive, painful, and politically fraught — and in some places it may be unavoidable.

What every approach shares is urgency. The cost of acting keeps rising, but the cost of waiting rises faster.