A student project by Martha Abbott, Caitlin Broman, and Bo Carpen ’19.
Mystic is a historic village along the southeast coast of Connecticut. As a coastal community, the village is vulnerable to the negative impacts of sea level rise and storm surge inundation. Shoreline Interventions for Coastal Resilience explores new ideas to improve protection where land meets water and provides the community with tools to envision these new ideas in situ.
This report analyzes potential locations for living shoreline techniques, specifically breakwaters and marsh creation/enhancement, based on shoreline criteria and environmental conditions. The proposed shoreline interventions are appropriate for particular residential, non-residential, and open space conditions in Mystic, yet they may be a model for other coastal communities in the northeast.
Photo at top: “Reef balls” in Stratford, CT are part of a living shoreline project. Photo: Alison Maurer ’18