Let's be frank.  We are not that great at adapting, are we.  How we deal with our current and future coastal hazards is a case in point.

We have plenty of experts with lots of clever ideas about how people should adapt, but very few people actually seem to be adapting in the rational and orderly ways suggested.  It is almost is if some invisible force is impeding the implementation of those great ideas.

To investigate the issue, Allan Young travelled to the US courtesy of a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship in 2013 and spent several months working in the New York City Mayor's Office on coastal resilience planning.  He was also engaged in research and teaching at Harvard and MIT on this topic.

The key has been to look at the problem a little differently.   For all of the compelling logic of the science, engineering and legal components, we inevitably come up against the realities of human behaviour, and economics.

Conveniently, the US is able to provide us with wonderful examples of what to do, and not do, when it comes to coastal planning and management.  Let's look at what we can learn from them and apply locally.  It will probably save you a lot of time and unnecessary grief in the long run.

Cunningly disguised as a series of amusing travel anecdotes, the presentation delivers a serious exposition of why coastal managers need to take an interest in behavioural economics.