Boosters of Boston’s emerging Seaport district dubbed it the “Innovation District.” But in the future, the city’s newest neighborhood might just as well be known as the “Inundation District,” the title of David Abel’s documentary premiering Sunday that explores the threat posed by rising seas to Boston and beyond.

The Seaport, artificial land built with sand, rocks, and trash along the South Boston waterfront, was of interest to Abel because he saw how the city spent billions of dollars building up an area that is likely to experience disproportionately higher sea levels than the rest of the world.

“What made me feel like this was an urgent story to tell was that I’d been writing about all these reports, year after year, about how our sea levels were rising, and with each report, it the predictions were getting significantly worse ,” says Abel, a COM professor of the practice in journalism.

Boston tides could rise 4 to 7 feet by 2100 and as much as 55 feet by 2200, without significant cuts to carbon emissions, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

Abel wanted to tell the story of how a city with perhaps more climate scientists per capita than any other decided to spend so much money building an entirely new urban district at sea level and on the coast. The Seaport has seen most of its development in the last five to 10 years, he adds.

“It was built at a time when we were well aware of the risks of rising sea levels and greater storm surges from climate change,” Abel says. 

The film, produced by The Boston Globe, was written, directed, and filmed by Abel, also a reporter at the Globe for more than 20 years. He worked with animator and editor Tom Blanco to put the rest together over the past two years.

“I’m so grateful to have had an amazing partner in Ted Blanco who has been with me every step of the way,” he adds. “It’s a really beautiful experience when you get an opportunity to work with someone whose vision aligns so well with yours, and when you get an opportunity to make something come to life that’s hopefully meaningful and beautiful and powerful, and hopefully ultimately has an impact.”

Working in the documentary medium is challenging sometimes, Abel says, when it comes to balancing what is compelling to the viewer without bombarding them with too many facts or statistics.

“But I’m also trying to provide enough of that, so that viewers are getting sufficient substance to appreciate the gravity of the problems facing our city,” he says.

“Inundation District” premieres Oct. 29 at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge as the closing night film of  the GlobeDocs Film Festival. For future screenings, go to www.inundationdistrict.com.