Coastal communities have an uncertain future as municipalities grapple with an increase in the frequency of coastal flooding. This article offers a simple approach to make decisions based on systems thinking. The objective of this article is to explore how to represent the coast as a system, how to apply systems thinking to coastal infrastructure, and to offer a framework to employ an integrated systems approach. The framework aids a community to map its future in the face of the changing coastal waters and a way to assess if they are moving toward a solution. It also provides a disciplined way of structured thinking to judge a problem and determine whether a hard or soft systems approach is appropriate. This kind of thinking is necessary for a community to plan capital improvement investments that are compatible with an uncertain future brought about by climate change.

中文翻译：

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将系统思维应用于沿海基础设施系统

随着市政当局努力应对沿海洪水频率的增加，沿海社区的未来充满不确定性。本文提供了一种基于系统思维做出决策的简单方法。本文的目的是探索如何将海岸表示为一个系统，如何将系统思维应用于海岸基础设施，并提供一个框架来采用集成系统方法。该框架有助于社区在面临不断变化的沿海水域时规划其未来，并提供一种评估他们是否正在朝着解决方案迈进的方法。它还提供了一种有纪律的结构化思维方式来判断问题并确定硬系统方法还是软系统方法是合适的。