How Could Boston be Redesigned to Cope with Storm Surges?

Paddling through Boston's Back Bay neighborhood like a gondolier through Venice may be one solution for the city's coming encounter with rising sea levels.

It may sound like a far-fetched idea, but not according to more than 70 of the city's businesspeople, government officials and engineers.

In a report released this week, the Urban Land Institute -- with funding from the Kresge Foundation -- outlined flooding solutions for four Boston-area neighborhoods after bringing together teams of architects, insurers, real estate developers, engineers, investors, and representatives from Boston and Cambridge government to analyze the city's sea-level risks.

Their mission was to determine a path to resolve likely flooding problems.  They outlined detailed plans for Back Bay, Revere, Alewife and the Innovation District, the city's most undeveloped tract.

The result is a complex set of diagrams showing how various phases of future development might be adapted to sea level and the growing exposure to flooding and powerful storm surges.  In Boston's Innovation District, for instance, the teams envision an elevated and expanded Harborwalk, where a sea wall will be combined with retail, so people can walk and shop on the same barrier holding out water.

In Revere Beach, a double sidewalk could be built along the main coastal thoroughfare, with landscaping between the two walkways adding more permeability to absorb stormwater.  "Pop-up" retail is used to fill in some of the leftover space at the lower level.

How Could Boston be Redesigned to Cope with Storm Surges?