Living with Higher Water: Lessons from the Deep Past to Help Coastal Cities Adapt

What the world’s oldest cities can teach us about adapting to rising seas.

As sea level rise accelerates, securing the future of coastal cities requires us to think beyond our current strategies. Most adaptation plans focus on keeping high tides out with concrete and steel. But these plans often overlook the threat from below: rising coastal groundwater that can cause flooding even behind seawalls and levees.

Living with Higher Water argues that, in order to meet the challenges of groundwate...