Sinking US cities already face ‘real impacts’ as subsidence poses risk to buildings and roads

Major cities on the US’s Atlantic coast are sinking faster than previously thought, with some rates of subsidence outpacing global sea level rise and threatening buildings, roads, and other key infrastructure.

Urban centres including City of New York City, Long Island, City of Baltimore , City of Virginia Beach , and City of Norfolk, VA are seeing areas sinking by as much as 5mm per year, according to new research published in the journal PNAS Nexus.

Such rapid sinking can undermine building foundations, damage roads, gas and water lines and exacerbate coastal flooding – especially when paired with sea level rise along the coast caused by climate change, researchers warn.

Source - https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/us-cities-sinking-buildings-roads-b2472430.html

Concerns on flooding are not new to urban planners as population continues to move to coastal areas. https://engineering.osu.edu/news/2023/12/coastal-communities-sea-level-rise-may-leave-some-isolated

The key to urban planning is building resilient infrastructure that can support commercial, industrial, institutional, and residential building . permits:

1. Flood mitigation - https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/nz/news/breaking-news/auckland-council-agrees-to-support-2p-property-mitigations-469754.aspx Auckland Council
2. Fire breaks - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/whitehorse-building-first-permanent-firebreak-1.7018183 City of Whitehorse
3. Insurance - https://insurance-portal.ca/article/climatic-events-weighed-on-insurers-results-in-2023/
4. Infrastructure - https://www.infrastructureinvestor.com/adaptation-is-key-as-managers-face-challenges-head-on/
5. ESG / Construction - https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/construction-spending-up-in-november-on-solid-residential-market
6. Building - https://www.greenbuildermedia.com/blog/top-10-issues-that-will-impact-the-building-industry-in-2024
7. Water - https://www.gzeromedia.com/climate/what-will-it-take-for-the-world-to-get-serious-about-water-2666837116
8. Housing and infrastructure - https://www.municipalworld.com/feature-story/housing-infrastructure-challenge/
9. AI/Climate Change - https://www.developmentaid.org/news-stream/post/172864/role-of-ai-in-tackling-climate-change
10. Budget constraints - https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2023/12/22/mayor--city-council-headed-for-budget-battle-amid-cuts-and-migrant-influx City of New York or City of Toronto https://www.cp24.com/news/toronto-has-been-climbing-out-of-a-deep-fiscal-hole-but-there-s-more-work-yet-to-do-in-2024-1.6702651

Paul Young CPA CGA

Paul is former IBM Customer Success Manager/Architect that has deployed over 300 data and AI solutions across geographies and industries. Paul is an ESG SME on policies and reporting.

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