Global Climate Change: a Challenge to Urban infrastructure Planners

Case studies suggest that a doubling of C02 levels would require mainly urban infrastructure investments to ensure an adequate water supply and to prevent the rise in sea level from inundating coastal communities. Impacts likely would vary substantially by region. Cleveland, and presumably other Great Lakes cities, would appear likely to benefit from milder weather and not to experience substantial costs for infrastructure construction or management. An anticipated one meter rise in sea level probably would require diking and pumping or raising the land surface in many urban coastal areas, including more than half of the 20 largest metropolitan areas. The cost in Greater Miami ·probably would exceed $600 million. It appears that inland cities need to be concerned primarily about water supply, electric power, and the possibility of increased subsidence problems.