Good tidings for coastal communities

The sea sustains life but also threatens it. An innovative design concept by Ed Barsley aims to contend with rising seawater by welcoming it into our coastal settlements. We have to change our attitudes towards possession and risk, and stop fighting a losing battle with nature - Ed Barsley Flooding from rising sea levels and extreme weather events is a major global issue, and the UK is no exception. According to the Government's 2012 Climate Change Impact Risk Assessment, flooding is the greatest threat facing the UK today. The UK's current strategy for coastal defence is largely reliant on rigid structures such as sea walls. Many of these are reaching the end of their design life, and proving disadvantageous in terms of cost, restrictive access to the sea and limited capacity to adapt to rising sea levels. As for the longer term, the Future Foresight flood research project commissioned by government and published in 2004, concluded that the government's 100-year shoreline defence plans were not adaptive enough to cope with changes expected within the next 15 to 30 years.