The vast physical infrastructure along the East Coast is protected both by engineered systems, including floodgates, seawalls and levees, and by legal and economic systems, including zoning, building codes and flood insurance.

FORBES: Rising Seas Along the East Coast

It could have deployed value capture, the principle that the economic gain generated by a public policy a zoning change or infrastructure investment should make its way back to the public.

FORBES: Value Capture and the Future of Financing Cities

This will require changes in zoning and planning, maybe at a short-term cost to economic growth.

ECONOMIST: The threat grows from rising water and sinking buildings