Building Long-Term Coastal Resilience: A Framework for Managing Shoreline Retreat in California

This project addresses the growing challenge of managing coastal retreat in California due to rising sea levels and extreme weather events. Beaches, wetlands, infrastructure, and private property are all at risk, and while traditional adaptation strategies like seawalls and beach nourishment offer temporary relief, they often come with significant ecological and social trade-offs. Managed shoreline retreat—strategically relocating infrastructure and development away from vulnerable shorelines—offers a more sustainable long-term solution, but it remains underused due to political resistance, high upfront costs, and a lack of clear guidance for implementation.

In response to these challenges, this project will develop a comprehensive framework to support local planners in evaluating and prioritizing managed shoreline retreat strategies. Core components of the work include identifying key evaluation criteria when considering managed shoreline retreat, creating coastal typologies to classify distinctly viable subregions, and designing a prioritization framework to implement managed shoreline retreat projects. This project will also explore the feasibility of a buyout-leaseback financing model using case study communities and coastal asset valuation analyses under different retreat scenarios. This work draws on a mix of literature review, spatial mapping of physical, environmental, and social factors, and coastal community-level financial modeling.

The final deliverables will include a structured planning guidance framework and an interactive online mapping platform designed to help local governments assess risks and explore retreat options. Together, these resources will offer actionable insights, policy recommendations, and user-friendly tools to support more equitable, transparent, and strategic shoreline retreat planning across California—and potentially in other coastal regions facing similar threats.