Concrete or ‘cement’ ship and pier, Aptos CA 2023.
I’m working with colleagues from UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, and CSU Channel Islands on case study of Seacliff State Beach in Aptos, California. The focus for this piece is how (and more importantly why) certain patterns of coastal protection and development persist despite repeated disasters and hazards. After the winter storms of 2022-23, Aptos, Capitola, and Santa Cruz were hit hard (and received a lot of national news media attention). This includes Seacliff State Beach, where walkways, seawalls, and other infrastructure were devastated. The pier and concrete ship in Aptos were among the damaged (see image). The main goal of this project is to think through alternative pathways for managing California’s coastline. We submitted a new manuscript on this work, which should hopefully be accepted and published soon.