{"id":20194,"date":"2025-09-02T21:35:46","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T01:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/?p=20194"},"modified":"2025-09-02T21:41:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T01:41:07","slug":"the-importance-of-coastal-resilience-meet-chris-levitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/the-importance-of-coastal-resilience-meet-chris-levitz\/","title":{"rendered":"The importance of coastal resilience: Meet Chris Levitz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chris Levitz is Coastal & Riverine Resilience Practice Leadfrom our U.S. West Water team with nearly 20 years of experience in resilience planning and flood risk management across the Texas coast and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A civil engineer by training, he focuses on aligning community development goals with ecological and long-term climate objectives, designing integrated strategies that blend green and gray infrastructure to build safer, more adaptable communities. He has been instrumental in building and leading our coastal resilience team, bringing together engineers, scientists, and planners to tackle complex challenges and expand the group\u2019s impact across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris has led major projects for the Texas General Land Office, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), including serving as engineering project manager for the Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan since its inception. From storm surge protection and fast-tracked design following Hurricane Ike in Houston-Galveston to stakeholder engagement across coastal Texas, he brings a collaborative, forward-thinking approach grounded in technical excellence and a deep commitment to community resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tell us about what inspired you to work in coastal resilience.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I became a civil engineer because I wanted to work on projects that could directly benefit both the environment and the community. I\u2019ve always been drawn to the idea of blending the power of our natural ecosystems with the practical side of engineering, and civil engineering felt like the right fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I began my career, my work focused primarily on flood risk, with a particular emphasis on community resilience to flooding. Over time, I\u2019ve been able to integrate that with my original interest in environmental stewardship. Looking back, that\u2019s where my passion truly started. It\u2019s been rewarding to bring those elements together under one professional umbrella, rather than specializing in just one area. I\u2019ve always held onto the goal of doing work that helps comprehensively when possible, and that\u2019s ultimately shaped the path of my career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is your favorite ArchTam project that you\u2019ve worked on and why? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My favorite project has been the Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan, which has also been a foundational project for our team. We worked with the state on the first plan iteration released in 2017, then updated it in 2019 and 2023, and we\u2019re now working on the 2028 version. It\u2019s been a unique and rewarding opportunity, as we\u2019ve been able to support the Texas General Land Office on this plan since its inception. The plan includes over 367 miles of coast and 3,300 miles of bays and estuaries, addressing challenges such as storm surge, sea level rise, habitat degradation, and coastal erosion. It emphasizes nature- and infrastructure-based solutions, integrating innovative methodologies like living shorelines and sediment management. The plan has resulted in the funding of hundreds of millions of dollars for coastal resilience projects along the Texas coast. I like to think that\u2019s because we\u2019ve put a lot of heart and effort into it, making it representative of the coastal stakeholders and ecosystems of Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This work demonstrates our strong commitment to the Texas coast, its communities, ecosystems, and the complex challenges they encounter. In partnership with the General Land Office, we continuously listen to and learn from the knowledge and experiences of stakeholders, professionals, and academic experts across the entire Texas coast. Through this collaboration, we have created a set of resilient design guides for stakeholder use that translate the plan components into actionable steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through these connections, we find solutions that balance environmental needs with community resilience, addressing current issues while anticipating how challenges will evolve over time. It has been an incredible chance to lead and help shape the long-term vision for the Texas coast. It\u2019s an ongoing opportunity to better serve the state, its communities, habitats, and ecosystems, improving resilience and making the coast as safe, accessible, and sustainable as possible \u2013 a coast that many generations can enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why is it important to take a proactive approach to coastal resilience?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, it feels like we have a new flood or hurricane-related disaster far too frequently these days. It often seems like we\u2019re stuck in this constant cycle of responding to the latest disaster. Our resilience practice is working to shift that mindset from reactive to proactive. Instead of waiting for worst-case scenarios to happen, many of which are unprecedented and unexpected, we want to think ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our approach to resilience considers both what has happened and what hasn\u2019t happened yet. How do we develop solutions \u2014 whether engineered, nature-based, gray infrastructure, green infrastructure, or a mix \u2014 that go beyond traditional methods? It\u2019s about building on our previous knowledge but also pushing the envelope to be more innovative and thoughtful. Recently, we assisted NASA with these specific considerations by working with them at the Kennedy Space Center to assess opportunities for enhancing site resilience against coastal surge and erosion. We aimed to do this by leveraging the natural beach and dune system along the Atlantic shoreline and living shoreline on the estuarine shores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big part of this is recognizing that we can\u2019t just build stronger infrastructure. We also need to educate and inform communities, sharing knowledge and helping residents become responsible stewards of their environment \u2014 whether that\u2019s the coast, river systems, or flood-prone areas. Fostering that awareness and centering it in a community\u2019s culture is key. As an example, we partnered with FEMA and The Nature Conservancy in Puerto Rico to develop job aids for local communities, providing a technical foundation to assist them in transitioning from traditional infrastructure designs to natural and nature-based solutions along sandy shorelines, riverine streambanks, and urban stormwater systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, the goal is to reduce the need to respond repeatedly to disasters by implementing measures beforehand. That way, when events do happen, their negative impacts are mitigated because proactive steps were taken. That\u2019s the heart of what we\u2019re trying to do with resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an individual member of the public, a lot of the work our team does tends to be expected \u2014 or even taken for granted. People don\u2019t expect heavy rainfall to disrupt their ability to get to work on any given day, much less cause loss of life. Often, we\u2019re fortunate enough to expect those kinds of events won\u2019t happen, or at least that they\u2019ll remain extreme exceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we try to do is make resilience and hazard mitigation fundamental \u2014 something that happens quietly behind the scenes. In an ideal world, much of what we do goes unnoticed by the public because it\u2019s so reliable. At the same time, we want people to become more knowledgeable and aware of these issues through education and outreach, whether it\u2019s working with schools, running public campaigns, or providing resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s about cutting through some of the bigger challenges in society, like politics or funding limitations, and focusing on what matters most: projects that truly benefit the public. What\u2019s critical to us is not just the technical excellence of our work, but also making positive impacts and changing perspectives. That way, awareness of resilience becomes less of an exception and more a part of how communities understand and prepare for their environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Share a piece of career advice.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, as a young engineer, scientist, planner, or any other professional, it\u2019s essential to diversify. Find opportunities that allow you to work in different spaces, take on different types of projects, and learn new skills. That versatility benefits you by keeping your career from becoming repetitive and provides a broader range of exposure to unique projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, take initiative. Do what\u2019s in front of you, but don\u2019t be afraid to express interest in other areas. If you hear about something that excites you, reach out \u2014 whether it\u2019s within your group or another one \u2014 and have a conversation to learn more. Authentic interest is what makes a real difference. We want to work with people who are genuinely invested in the work, because that\u2019s when you do your best work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chris has led major projects for the Texas General Land Office, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), including serving as engineering project manager for the Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan since its inception.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1067,"featured_media":20195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4330,197,171],"tags":[6459,1984,6672,108],"yst_prominent_words":[767,1103,354,5806,452],"class_list":["post-20194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coast","category-resilience","category-water","tag-coastal-resilience","tag-environment","tag-flood-risk-management","tag-water"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1067"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20194"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20207,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20194\/revisions\/20207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20194"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archtam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=20194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}