• Harnessing civil engineering for placemaking and preservation

    Harvey and Irma point out the need to think deeply about resilience to major storms in the era of climate change.
    In Newport, Rhode Island, the tide is rising. Local sea levels at high tide have risen eight inches in the past 75 years, threatening neighborhoods like The Point, which combines history, charm, and walkability in a way that is unique and irreplaceable. Neighborhoods in Newport’s flood zones...Read more

  • Building on local assets for resilience

    Plan NoBe in the North Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach sets the stage for higher construction standards to withstand sea-level rise—while strengthening defenses like sea walls, mangrove islands, and barrier beaches.
    Irma and Harvey raise the issue of resilience in coastal communities that are prone to hurricanes, and Miami Beach, Florida, is among the most vulnerable—yet the city is growing steadily this decade. For the Miami Beach neighborhood of North Beach, climate change, historic preservation, affordable...Read more

  • From the wreckage, hope and opportunity

    Citizens have a chance to go beyond business-as-usual to achieve a higher potential through recovery from the historic 2017 hurricane season.
    The Southeast woke up this week to destruction from Irma, the second major hurricane to hit the United States in 2017, the worst hurricane season since 2005. In terms of loss of life, there is no comparison between that year ( about 1,700 deaths from Katrina alone) and 2017, but property damage may...Read more

  • Why we should take suburban poverty seriously

    As low-income people migrate further out to the suburban fringe, they become more isolated from services and transportation, according to a report by CNU focused on Seattle.
    Like most of America, the Seattle region is experiencing rising poverty in its suburbs. From 2005 to 2015, the suburban poverty rate grew by 29.7 percent in the Puget Sound region, a rise that is more than double that of the central city. At the same time, the total number of people in poverty in...Read more