Prof. DING Xiaoli, Director of the Research Institute for Land and Space (RILS) and Chair Professor of Geomatics, contributed expert insights on subsidence risks in coastal cities to science journal Nature.
Prof. Ding explained that coastal cities are particularly vulnerable to subsidence due to their natural characteristics. Many are situated on river deltas or coastal plains, where sediment compaction over time leads to subsidence. For coastal cities located in earthquake-prone regions, such as Tokyo, tectonic activity can further contribute to the problem. Meanwhile, the expansion of coastal cities themselves — with nearly one-third of the global population in 2018, or more than 2 billion people, lived within 50 kilometres of the shore — has significantly exacerbated the issue.
For more details, please read the full paper “Sinking cities: how China is moving subsidence research forward” by YOU Xiaoying at https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03529-z
| Research Units | Research Institute for Land and Space |
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