A SMART-CITY APPROACH TO SEA LEVEL RISE

As a waterfront city, Portland is especially at risk to the potential hazards associated with sea level rise. The question of combatting the effects of sea level rise isn’t a matter of “if,” but rather a matter of “when.” However, this is not a concern that needs to be left to the future, because Portland is presently susceptible to inundation under conditions of “storm-of-the-century” ocean surges.

In this research paper, I would like to explore the possibility of a tandem intervention for the city of Portland: the installation of meteorological and oceanographic sensors that would then relay and translate data into an interactive weather website specific to the city of Portland. I strongly believe that, through innovations in the use of existing technology, the city of Portland can create a weather-related warning system. This would be  system that would allow its citizens to react quickly and prepare for possible storm effects.

Adam Greenfield, in is book Against the Smart City, suggests that technology should be used as a tool—a means to an end—rather than a solution. As a result, I am structuring this intervention as a tool to combat the effects of sea level rise, rather than as an urban-scale solution to climate change. It is meant to be an inexpensive, yet effective method of collecting, interpreting, and distributing data to all city residents, which they can use as they see fit to prepare and storm-proof their properties. It would also allow cities to stormproof , permitting them to anticipate public infrastructure at highest risk of inundation and erosion.

I have created a number of maps and data sets concerning inundation in Portland through my ArcGIS work in Eileen Johnson’s “Resilient Communities” course, and I would like to use this as the base of my data research. However, I would also like to explore and map the types of properties and infrastructure that could benefit from such an intervention; initial assumptions would show that areas in the Old Port and the Back Cove would greatly benefit from such a system. These maps would be used to determine how effective such a warning system would be for Portland’s citizens, and would offer a conjecture as to how such a system could be implemented into other, larger waterfront cities.