Climate Change Mitigation for Coastal Communities

Over recent decades, Boston has been affected by several tidal floods due to sea level rise. In addition to hurricanes, Sandy and Irene, are the storms occurring at high tide bringing damaging floods to coastal communities, causing major damage to the historical neighborhoods and developing areas, specifically, new Seaport District. Like other historical ports in the United States, most of Boston, including the new Seaport District, has neighborhoods/commercial districts built on filled coastline. Within recent years, the Seaport District has experienced significant economic increase in businesses/residents. This area has been revived and a thriving community has formed. However, solid mitigation to handle extreme weather and rising seawater is lacking. During the winter storms on 2018 in which the rising sea water flooded neighborhoods, Boston saw the storm surge as a threat to continual development in the Seaport District and around the city. One great storm surge could cause enormous economic damage to the city’s coastlines. Several towns in Massachusetts have adopted their own mitigation plans. Boston is researching and exploring the economic and life safety issues to address or prepare for the changing climate. Adopting a formal plan is vital to preserving and protecting Boston’s rich history and neighborhoods. This paper addresses mitigation measures to form a robust plan for policy makers, useful recommendations for engineers and designers working on infrastructure/buildings in coastal communities. These mitigation measures include protecting life safety equipment, MEP services/equipment, structural durability, accessibility with flood events, functional design recommendations for at-risk buildings, and retention.