Adapt and Thrive: Strategies for Life along a Dynamic and Changing Coastline

Long Beach, California, faces significant risks from sea level rise (SLR). Increased flooding and wave runup from changing precipitation patterns and an expanding ocean threatens significant industrial, transportation, commercial, and civic infrastructure. Situated at the bottom of two major Southern California watersheds, the urban waterbodies emptying into San Pedro Bay are heavily polluted. This environmentally degraded coastal zone suffers the dual impacts of concentrations of heavy industry emissions and polluted runoff from an urbanized watershed, which stagnates nearshore, trapped by the Long Beach breakwater. To mitigate these vulnerabilities, the authors propose a hybrid approach of strategies, integrating traditional engineered coastal and marine infrastructure with innovative natural measures such as vegetated dunes and habitat-enhancing breakwaters that have been implemented and proven effective in coastal communities around the world. This hybrid approach can decrease risks, enhance coastal-based economies, and improve the health of coastal and marine ecosystems.