A scramble to protect ourselves and our environment from climate change will almost certainly spawn geographic and technological benefits that will can make housing more affordable.
A recent article in The Guardian appears by its caption to be focused on one catastrophic change to habitation that will be wreaked by melting polar ice and the resulting rise of sea water: flooding.
The article is founded on a premise that building higher and higher sea walls can only provide so much (expensive) protection against flooding. It talks about adapting housing to flooding as a more economic defence and identifies a variety of techniques. Many of these techniques have been developed in the Netherlands, with a significant proportion of its land mass below sea level. Not to mention other traditional methods that have been in place for hundreds, if not thousands, of years as adaptation to both flooding from the sea, and in river flood plains.
The Guardian article explores how modern developments to protect against coastal flooding will also allow the possibility of building housing on river flood plains. With land costs a major component of housing costs, this previously uninhabitable land may offer a new source of affordable housing.
Read more in The Guardian: How To Build A Climate-Proof Home That Never Floods
