Between the Lines

providing holistic, data-driven approach to planning for coastal communities in light of a changing climate

As extreme flood events are experienced more frequently and with greater negative impact, decision-makers and the public alike are faced with the task of minimizing damage and planning for a viable future in coastal cities. This requires agreement around the problem being addressed (Resiliency for what? Resiliency for whom?) and the tools used to address those problems. Between the Lines proposes a comprehensive review of existing coastal vulnerability and resiliency planning methodologies from around the world in order to present relevant, up-to-date information in a modeling interface suited for non-specialist decision makers. This method uses the best available scholarship and data to equip planners with the tools they need to address the uncertainties associated with rising sea levels and changing climactic conditions. 

This project pairs emergent 3D web mapping technologies with flood vulnerability indicators gathered from across the global coastal resilience literature to offer robust composite measures of vulnerability based on social, economic, environmental, institutional, and built environment factors. Data visualization techniques are used to offer summary views of information as well as topic-specific information about specific areas of interest. Pairing exhaustive literature review of the ways in which vulnerability of coastal systems are measured with novel visualization techniques, this tool will provide decision makers with robust yet approachable information that can guide planning and development in coastal areas.

This project relies on open data streams provided at the municipal, county, state, and national level fed into models. Since a number of agencies are responsible for collecting and maintaining data relevant to extreme events, coastal flooding, and the potential impacts they can have on urban areas, this project relies upon web-based technologies to store and process data. Data is stored and served from cloud-based PostGIS instance, Python-based statistical aggregation and interpolation packages are used to acquire and process data, and Javascript libraries are used to visualize spatial and non-spatial data.

This solution will be expanded over the next twelve months in the following ways: the models will be extended to include institutional and economic factors (where it now contains social, built environment, and environmental factors); the processing and visualization components will be refactored to rely on server-side processing and away from client-side processing to allow for a more seamless user experience; and new API functions will be integrated, allowing users to analyze results relative to other demographic or property value-related factors.

Over the next 3-5 years, this solution will have established a firm baseline in US coastal cities; contributed to the academic and policy-related literature for definitions of and solutions for coastal vulnerability and adaptation; and will have developed a baseline to measure holistic coastal change relative to the way that people's lives are impacted. It will become the standard tool for policymakers and researchers to understand and plan for more resilient coastal cities.

The solution targets policymakers and planners in municipalities; these potential users will be engaged through direct outreach and demonstrations of the product. The general public will be reached by extension through this process in each municipality. The academic community will be engaged through interactions at conferences and the publication of articles. Early outreach to the City of Houston is ongoing, and the work to date will be presented at the 8th International Conference on Building Resilience in Lisbon in November 2018.

This project is currently a prototype, and as such it has been shared as a demonstration of future functionality.

Within 12 months, I expect this product to serve the planning and development communities of Houston and Boston, as well as the communities they serve. Within three years, I foresee this product scaling to serve coastal communities along the Atlantic coast of the United States. Much of the methodology is similar across geographies; the largest hurdle will be the automated collection and collation of data across agencies and municipalities.

I received my Masters in City Planning from MIT in June 2018, where I focused on urban-scale planning in coastal cities. This project is an extension of my thesis. While at MIT, I worked as a research assistant in the Civic Data Design Lab, Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU), and the West Philadelphia Landscape Project, where I honed my technical skills in the service of urban planning issues. I worked as a spatial analyst at the Wildlife Conservation Society for four years before enrolling at MIT. I will continue this work as a staff researcher at the LCAU.

If commercialized, this solution will be offered as software as a service, with planners and developers paying subscriptions for robust analytic tools and the general public enjoying the output of these modeling and planning tools for free.

I believe access to the Solve network can help me transform my solution from an academic project to a public tool that can serve to guide climate planning policy for coastal cities. Furthermore, monetary support will allow me to continue developing features that would be required to scale the solution.

A primary barrier is time and monetary support needed to develop the solution to be more robust. Solve's commitment to offering funding support, as well as access to MIT facility resources and networking events, will allow me to further develop the solution and meet with potential partners and champions that can advise on development and the overall direction of the project.