Cities Are Becoming More Like Sponges: Water management that prizes lakes and greenery over concrete makes for less flood-prone cities — and prettier ones, too
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/sponge-cities-china-climate-change-resilience/Open linkView original on beehaw.org
This kind of touches on a problem that's been stewing in my mind for the last year or so. How is New York City going to deal with climate change? By the end of the century water levels are going to rise by up to six feet. That's significant! It could put many neighborhoods literally underwater, but beyond that the infrastructure - subways, sewers, etc. - could face significant problems.
Relevant quote from the article:
It's possible we see NYC just... move away from its current position within our lifetimes.
It would have to move within a few thousand years anyway. What is a millenia plus slash minus?
Oh right, a fucking lot. Its like only getting half a day moving out of an apartment and finding a new place to live. Its gonna be stressful.
in NYC's case it's a lot more likely they put up a ton of levees to try and defer the problem, since they have the money to do that (and to play favorites); in fact i'm pretty sure that's the main plan with respect to sea level rise in the city. people have proposed alternatives but Big Wall is just quick and easy in a way "maybe we need to normalize green spaces that can flood" isn't