Many of America's national treasures sit in low lying areas of D.C. that are vulnerable to extreme floods (it was built atop a tidal plain, after all). With such floods likely to increase, planners and engineers are devising protection plans.
"The Mall is where people mean when they say Washington was built on a swamp — or more precisely, malarial marshland," observes Jennifer Ludden. "Constitution Avenue was once a boggy creek. So you can easily imagine water rushing over manicured lawns, pouring into marble lobbies, threatening the national treasures within — just like in one of those D.C. disaster movies that Hollywood loves."
"Except it already happened [PDF] — in 2006, [Amy Tarce, a federal urban planner with the National Capital Planning Commission] says, after a week of continuous rain."
"There's a very interesting discussion always about how bad is it going to get in 50 years," says Brendan Shane, chief of the Office of Policy and Sustainability for the District of Columbia's Department of the Environment. "Well, the problem is, it could get really bad already."
Flood barriers, automatic flood gates, green roofs, and a huge underground pumping station are among the defense measures being considered and built to keep the flood waters away.
Read the full story: With National Treasures At Risk, D.C. Fights Against Flooding
Lessons from Louisiana
We should have seen the historic flooding in the Florida Parishes region of Louisiana coming—both in preparation and in response—says a pair of recent articles.
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
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Los Angeles just elected an urban planner as its mayor
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Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
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City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority