Rising sea levels and climate change mean that many parts of the UK coast will change significantly over the next century. Adapting to these projected changes will require a wholesale review of the way flood and erosion risks are managed.
Halcrow has developed CoastRanger, an educational software tool that allows users to manage a virtual coast within an interactive online environment. Members of the public are able to explore the effects different management approaches have on coastal processes, natural environments and flood and coastal erosion risk.
The project aimed to improve public understanding of the difficult decisions that need to be made in the future management of the UK’s coasts. Better public awareness of the issues at stake will potentially increase acceptance and uptake of more sustainable long-term management policies.
CoastRanger incorporates a legacy of past developments and defences, and uses a coastal process simulator to predict the impacts of climate change under different management scenarios chosen by the user. Users are also able to make various decisions about the management of the virtual shoreline and then see the consequences on screen.
Accessible and engaging, our software tool will help to illustrate predicted changes and effectively communicate the direct effects these will have on coastal communities to planners, local policy makers and the public.
The project was funded by the UK government’s Innovation Fund, which forms part of its Making Space for Water programme. Launched in 2005, this cross-government strategy is developing a long-term and sustainable approach to flood and coastal erosion risk management.
Making Space for Water aims to manage risks through a range of approaches which reflect national and local priorities, and which reduce the threat to people and their property while delivering maximum environmental, social and economic benefits. The Innovation Fund funded six pilot projects to test new and innovative approaches to flooding and coastal erosion.