A FIXED DESTINATION ON FLUID GROUND
A toolkit for Atlantic City's future
Since the first train arrived in Atlantic City in 1854, the barrier island has been a unique destination for Americans looking to take a break from their daily routines and escape to the beach. As “America’s Playground,” the city built the country’s first boardwalk, hosted the First Miss America Pageant, constructed a steel pier that operated as one of the country’s most popular venues, invented saltwater taffy, and opened the first casinos on the east coast. In addition to providing recreation and entertainment for millions of Americans, Atlantic City’s tourism industry has also provided a livelihood for generations of Atlantic City and Pleasantville residents.
Today the city faces extreme vulnerability, both environmentally and economically. The low-lying island is significantly at risk of flooding due to sea level rise, an issue compounded by geological factors and groundwater depletion which are causing the city to sink. The back bay neighborhoods, where many working-class residents live, are on particularly low land and already experience regular floods. Though located on slightly higher ground, the city’s casinos are declining due to the rise of online gaming and the presence of competing casinos in nearby cities. Atlantic City’s reliance on the casino industry as its largest employer and a significant source of municipal funds makes the city vulnerable financially and threatens its ability to meet the needs (resilience-related and otherwise) of its citizens.
Despite the fact that the majority of the island is projected to be underwater with even 4ft of sea level rise, current resilience planning excludes managed retreat as an option. The 2022 Resilient NJ Action Plan funded by HUD instead selected a strategy of increasing density for shoreline protection. While this may provide protection in the short term, it will ultimately put more people at risk.
Though there are many parts of Atlantic City in need of protection, the Absecon barrier island also serves as a critical means of protection for more inland communities by absorbing storm surges and wave energy. Since the New Jersey Barrier Islands were formed around 14 thousand years ago, the sandy islands have migrated about 40 miles west to keep pace with sea level rise. When urban development prevents the natural process of rollover, barrier islands can permanently drown, leaving adjacent mainland areas vulnerable to catastrophic impacts.
Our project posits that the strategic depopulation of Atlantic City and restoration of barrier island natural processes is essential for the region’s long term resilience. Equally important is the preservation of the region’s character as a vacation destination and the livelihoods associated with the tourism industry.
BARRIER ISLAND DYNAMICS
The New Jersey Barrier Islands and Back Bays are dynamic systems that support a variety of habitats and provide ecosystem services such as water filtration and storm surge mitigation. Through the creation of a story map tracking the may factors impacting theses coastal environments, our project used an understanding of the ecological and geomorphological dynamics of these systems as essential groundwork.
A FRAMEWORK FOR ATLANTIC CITY’S FUTURE
Through a series of phased interventions, our team charts a future for Atlantic City where the barrier island is incrementally depopulated and deconstructed while remaining a tourism destination and economic engine for the region.
Our key tools include:
REGIONALIZATION as a tool to enable coastal buyouts and retreat. Our specific interventions include establishing municipal consolidation and tax base sharing between Atlantic City, Pleasantville and other municipalities of the Atlantic County Coastal Zone. Additionally we propose the establishment of a ferry system that would increase connectivity between Pleasantville and Atlantic City during the buyout process, importantly allowing AC residents to move to Pleasantville while continuing to hold jobs on the island.
ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION to prevent reliance on the Casino Industry. As Atlantic City’s Casino Industry declines, we believe that incentivizing re-use of casino buildings will be essential to AC’s resilience. New tourism attractions can enter these spaces (e.g. art studios, theme parks, escape rooms, and other party areas) and they can also be used for other light industries (e.g. wind industry staging). We also propose the establishment of kelp farms as a new eco industry.
SELECTIVE PORTECTION of key cultural landmarks and essential infrastructure. Though all of Atlantic City can’t be protected from sea level rise, strategic protection of the light house, civic buildings, transportation centers, and other important areas can be an essential anchor for remaining communities and persisting tourism.
NATURAL PROCESSES RESTORATION of barrier island rollover process. Barrier islands provide the best protection to mainland communities. By deconstructing development on the island and allowing island sediments to move under forces of wind and waves, we can re-establish the natural barrier island processes that allow barrier islands to migrate with sea level rise. This can prevent the island from disappearing and ensure protection for Pleasantville.
TRANSITIONAL DESIGN + EVENT-BASED PROGRAMING to enable tourism amid long-term depopulation and demolition. Though we envision a future where few structures are permanent on the barrier island, the island can continue to attract visitors through temporary installations (e.g. casino building uses pre-demolition) and special events, such as casino demolition watch parties as well as music festivals and sand sport tournaments on the beaches.
A FOCUS ON TOURISM
Through the creation of a travel diary, we explored the experience of a future tourist visiting Atlantic City and Pleasantville. The diary offers a unique glimpse into the transformed landscapes of Atlantic City and Pleasantville. As tourists traverse the revitalized back bay and barrier island, they encounter a curated collection of items that do more than commemorate their visit—they narrate the profound changes reshaping these areas. These artifacts reflect the nuanced economic strategies behind Atlantic City's strategic depopulation and Pleasantville's burgeoning development. They also highlight efforts to protect and rejuvenate legacy businesses, repositioning Atlantic City as a premier natural destination and Pleasantville as a center for cultural and business tourism.
A REGIONAL APPROACH
Many of the resilience and adaptation strategies we’ve envisioned for Atlantic City can be applied to the larger region in order to preserve historical and cultural aspects of coastal cities while utilizing natural and structural tools to protect both island and mainland communities. Perhaps most essential and applicable is the our proposed barrier island Ferry System.
As sea levels rise, the highways and bridges that currently connect the mainland to the barrier island are at risk of being submerged. As an alternative and supplemental way to access the barrier island, we’ve envisioned a ferry system from North Cape May to Atlantic City that would feature 3 distinct lines. The first one is a connection grey line, which connects each barrier island from the North Cape May Ferry Terminal. The second one is a natural green line, which provides the connection between the natural spaces, like parks, beaches, and wildlife refuge areas, on each barrier island. The last one is a cultural and historical blue line, providing connections between each special district in each city for people to get to know and enjoy the history and culture of the place.
A FOCUS ON THE HUMAN SCALE
To engage with the more personal decisions implied by the buyout process, our project included the creation of an interactive game. The game is designed for two groups of players: decision makers and the community (people who will be influenced by the decisions). For decision makers, this game aims at emphasizing buyout is a long process and inspiring different planning and design strategies. For community members, this game is an education and empowerment tool, with a goal to design different possible resilient systems that could happen during the transition stage of those communities.
