Living with water
Adapting to climate change requires a new approach to infrastructure: we need to move from control to coexistence with the dynamics of water. We need to activate resilience strategies and pay attention to slow variables in order to live with the change in river flows and sea level rise.
The future of the city-port-territory ecosystem will fully depend on the impacts of climate change. Coastal areas are among those most exposed to the negative impacts of climate change: Sea level rise, salt intrusion, risk of flooding, storms and high water.
Ports also play a central role in this situation. On the one hand, they represent a change in the coastline that amplifies some of these risks, but they are also the frontier where solutions can be applied to protect urban communities and some of their key infrastructure from these risks.
These three aspects - ecosystem impacts, erosion, and saltwater intrusion - are three of the consequences of coastal climate change. And ports amplify the natural dynamics of climate change on the coast.
Miriam García García
PhD Architect, landscape architect, urban planner and director of LAND LAB
There are a number of city departments that are very engaged in sea level rise adaptation because they have assets that are at risk. There are also some other city agencies that are working together to develop a framework of principles to coordinate what are the assets that the city needs to upgrade and adapt. And now, we're also getting into discussions with the businesses and private property owners to start educating them about investments that they're going to have to plan for as well.
Diane Oshima
Director of Planning & Environment, Port Of San Francisco (2017-2021)
To ensure adaptation to the upcoming changes, an approach of interdependent and solidary systems is required, where port infrastructure participates as part of the open socio-ecological system at the coastal zone. Adaptation measures to climate change must be designed taking into account all externalities and impacts of the ecosystem configuration.
To assess the impact of change, we must consider these open environments as open social-ecological systems. […] Without understanding these dynamics and the environment of this system, we will not be able to meet the challenges of adaptation.
Miriam García García
PhD Architect, landscape architect, urban planner and director of LAND LAB
The development of ports must also be influenced by this view, not only the adaptation of existing infrastructure. Any transformation project must be considered as part of the ecosystem to be resilient. This includes incorporating changes and projections of slow variables into the design process to assess climate change risks. For example, the ability to assess future changes in coastal drift and their long-term impacts, or the impact of rising sea levels on infrastructure.
In addition, the port of the future will require the adaptation of current technical solutions to incorporate less harsh ones that are based on nature and its regenerative capacity and inherently have greater adaptive potential.
Methodologically, one of the criteria for resilience to the impacts of climate change is to consider the slow variables of climate change, i.e., gradual sea level rise, erosion, saltwater intrusion, or ecosystem degradation must be considered, for example, by 2045 and by 2100. Any work that is not addressed in this way cannot be called resilient or adaptive because it does not consider the long-term impacts.
Miriam García García
PhD Architect, landscape architect, urban planner and director of LAND LAB
I think what's interesting about these soft solutions, instead of hard solutions, is that it's not binary. When you're thinking about, for instance, a barricade or a dam –it's either open or it's closed. But [soft solutions] are very gradual. They can help attenuate the waves that kind of absorb some of the impact. And when they are being damaged, it's not that they're fully broken, the system is still alive, it's a living system, and it will regenerate itself.
Stefan Al
Architect, urbanist and professor at Columbia University
Key Actions
- Have a coastal resilience plan that includes measures to adapt port infrastructure to climate change impacts.
- Assess the environmental and transformational impacts of ecosystems derived from port infrastructure over long time periods to include slow variables, e.g. in 2045 and 2100.
- Research and develop new biotechnological solutions for climate change adaptation. Collaborate between university, public sector and private sector to develop innovative solutions with positive impacts.
Experts
Diane Oshima
Director of Planning & Environment, Port Of San Francisco (2017-2021)
Miriam García García
PhD Architect, landscape architect, urban planner and director of LAND LAB
Stefan Al
Architect, urbanist and professor at Columbia University