Engineering for the Permanently Temporary

I love this term - permanently temporary.  It will be interesting to see how engineering embraces the need for "permanently temporary" as a design philosophy in a world of greater resiliency and sustainability concerns.

From Shoreline of the Future: Permanently Temporary:

"As a civilized species humans have never had to deal with the idea that sea level changes or that, left unattended, the “natural” location of the shoreline will move inland. Now, suddenly, our human experience has become irrelevant. From this point forward into the future the location of the shoreline will always be “permanently temporary.” This is a difficult concept to grasp. To deal with this challenge, we’ll have to find new ways to plan, develop, enjoy and make productive use of our immediate shoreline areas in manner that will accommodate and adapt to the fact that the shoreline wants to forever migrate inland."