Progress toward meeting the challenges of our coastal urban future

The 7th Conference on Coastal Atmospheric and Oceanic Prediction and Processes and the 7th Symposium on the Urban Environment both tackled meeting the challenges of coastal urban regions, which are a nexus for climate change effects, extreme weather impacts, chemical/biological threats, and air quality issues. The conference showcased discussions about such issues as coastal vulnerabilities, climate change, urban planning, advancing modeling capabilities, observing and forecasting in the urban-coastal zones, modeling for emergency response, dispersion, and air quality in urban-coastal areas. The conference also discussed issues regarding enabling technologies, such as multiscale modeling that includes a computational fluid dynamics building-resolving capability which holds promise for assessing and responding to specific threats to coastal cities.