Adapting Cities to Sea Level Rise

"""Stefan Al provides an accessible overview of typical strategies for designing an urban shoreline to respond to flooding, with a strong emphasis on past and present Dutch approaches. Numerous illustrations make it useful for non-designers, as well as students of design. I recommend the book to planners and designers who are looking for an introduction to strategies for coastal design.""--Kristina Hill, Associate Professor, University of California, Berkeley ""With his book, Stefan Al presents an inspiring and extensive toolbox of strategies that cities can embrace to adapt to sea level rise. Al looks across the world optimistically: yes we can do it! And we must, since there is no time to waste. Adaptation is different in every place, and this book shows us how to maximize opportunities if only we work together in a truly inclusive and comprehensive way.""--Henk Ovink, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, Kingdom of The Netherlands, Sherpa to the UN and World Bank High Level Panel on Water, and Principal for Rebuild by Design ""This concise, readable, and lookable book will help planners, policy makers, and the public to understand their options as the climate continues to change.""-- ""Planning"" ""Adapting Cities to Sea Level Rise is a frank typological exploration that synthesizes civil engineering, landscape, and urban design considerations into an accessible reference that highlights the adaptive and maladaptive tendencies of design. Rich with case studies, the book provides critical insights into the nuances shaping the life cycle of design interventions.""--Jesse M. Keenan, Faculty of Architecture, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design ""Adapting Cities to Sea Level Rise addresses what to do to protect the waning 28 percent of the Earth's surface that is not yet flooded...This is a book that should be on the shelves of anyone involved in coastal defense.""-- ""Urban Design"" ""Elegantly designed and easy to read yet packed with useful information on one of the most significant challenges facing the design community, Adapting to Sea Level Rise, is an asset to professionals in the field and policy makers grappling with these issues.""-- ""Civil Engineering"" ""Leveraging his strong architecture and urban design background, Al saturated the text with dazzling graphics and maps, giving the book the feel of an easy and enjoyable coffee table reference book. The flood pictures are breathtaking. The future flood maps are compelling and informative.The diagrams are polished and supplemented by helpful pictures of real-world infrastructure. Perhaps most importantly, the book is strong for its unwavering commitment to mixed strategies that consider the broader needs of a city and its people, in lieu of traditional gray infrastructure strategies that consider only the immediate engineering task at hand.. Al's book is an excellent introductory text in innovative gray and green flood management strategies for civil engineers, urban designers, landscape architects, or planners, especially students of those professions... Adapting Cities to Sea Level Rise provides a tremendously valuable basic understanding of key concepts, and peaks interest for deeper dives into specific strategies if desired.""-- ""Journal of Planning Education and Research"""