• Land Use Resources

Land Use and the Built Environment Adaptation Strategies

This tab includes strategies for how to avoid or reduce climate change impacts through policies that relate to land use and the built environment, including best practices and legal and policy analysis.

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Hampton Roads Sea Level Rise Preparedness and Resilience Intergovernmental Pilot Project Phase 2 Report: Recommendations, Accomplishments and Lessons Learned

October 19, 2016

The Hampton Roads Sea Level Rise Preparedness and Resilience Intergovernmental Planning Pilot Project was a two-year project to develop an adaptive planning strategy for sea level rise and recurrent flooding - through the collaboration of academic, military, government, and community partners. The Pilot sought to develop resilience and preparedness measures at the regional level with emphasis on impacts to national security and the economy, and to create a framework or template for intergovernmental strategic planning that could be used outside the region.

Resource Category: Planning

 

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Greening Vacant Lots

October 11, 2016

In a 2016 book, Local Code – 3,659 Proposals About Data, Design and the Nature of Cities, the author, Nicholas de Monchaux, discusses how vacant lots can be a valuable resource for helping cities boost their climate resilience.  Monchaux, an architecture professor at the University of California- Berkeley, analyzed vacant lots in four cities (New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Venice). He highlighted the potential to use vacant lots for projects to mitigate urban heat islands and manage stormwater; he also discusses the equity aspects of adaptively reusing vacant properties. He suggests that cities invest more in greening unused spaces in underserved communities as a way to achieve greater environmental and social impact.  The book looks at  potential transformation of different types of lands and public spaces including abandoned public streets, lots, rights-of-way, and alleyways. 

Author or Affiliated User: Nicholas de Monchaux

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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City of Coral Gables: Legal Considerations Surrounding Adaptation to the Threat of Sea Level Rise

September 28, 2016

This comprehensive report discusses the policy options available to the City of Coral Gables, Florida, as it prepares for sea level rise and other effects of climate change. It also explores potential legal issues likely to arise as climate change adaptation measures are implemented. It explores these challenges in light of Coral Gables’s (and all of South Florida’s) unique vulnerability to climate change, as a result of its low elevation above current sea level and its porous limestone base, which makes protecting areas of South Florida like Coral Gables with sea walls, dikes, or canals impractical.

Resource Category: Law and Governance

 

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Georgetown Climate Center Green Infrastructure Toolkit

September 14, 2016

From the Georgetown Climate Center, the new Green Infrastructure Toolkit is a comprehensive guide presenting a wide array of best green infrastructure practices from cities across the country. The tool is integrated with this Adaptation Clearinghouse to showcase some of the best examples available, whether you are just getting started, scaling up, determining how to pay for green infrastructure, or working to ensure that local policies are integrated with climate equity and environmental justice efforts in the community.

Author or Affiliated User: Sara Hoverter

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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2016 City of Imperial Beach Sea Level Rise Assessment

September 2016

The City of Imperial Beach is a mostly residential community located in San Diego County, California. With 1. 5 miles of coastline and waterbodies adjacent to three sides of the city, Imperial Beach is vulnerable to climate change-induced sea-level rise and flooding. This assessment projects sea-level rise along the coastline, assesses the associated risks to coastal resources and development, and evaluates adaptation strategies. Proposed near-term policy approaches include updating the zoning code with hazard zone overlays, developing a beach management plan, and working with state and federal partners to address vulnerabilities.

Resource Category: Data and tools

 

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FHWA Transportation Engineering Approaches to Climate Resiliency (TEACR) Study

The Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Transportation Engineering Approaches to Climate Resiliency (TEACR) study is designed to help identify best engineering practices for evaluating project-specific vulnerabilities to climate change impacts and extreme weather events, and for developing adaptation solutions to address those vulnerabilities. The study helps to address the challenges that engineers face in translating climate science into project-level design specifications, by developing solutions and methodologies that engineers across the country can apply when planning and designing projects in different project contexts.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Buy-in for Buyouts: The Case for Managed Retreat from Flood Zones

2016

In this report, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Regional Plan Association present best practices for state and local governments to encourage residents and communities vulnerable to flooding to relocate from coastal and riverine areas through managed retreat. Based on the experiences of communities in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut following Hurricanes Sandy (2012) and Irene (2011), the report summarizes the political, social, and economic challenges of using buyouts and acquisitions as an adaptation strategy.

Authors or Affiliated Users: Robert Freudenberg, Ellis Calvin, Laura Tolkoff, Dare Brawley

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Financing High-Performance Infrastructure

July 8, 2016

The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a fact sheet describing ways that state and local governments can finance climate resilience investments using green bonds and other innovative financing strategies.  Green bonds can be used to finance investments in and retrofits to infrastructure to increase community resilience, including investments in renewable energy and grid resilience, clean transportation, drinking and wastewater infrastructure, and more.  The fact sheet provides a high level summary of some financing options including green bonds, catastrophe bonds, resilience bonds, and social impact bonds.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Coastal Climate Resiliency - Resilient Retail (New York City)

July 2016

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, New York City (NYC) was left with significant damage to its urban retail corridors. In response, the NYC Department of City Planning launched the Resilient Retail study to address commercial-infrastructure flood resiliency, particularly in retail corridors located within the city’s floodplains. This report offers detailed case studies of affected areas, documents the challenges of increasing flood resiliency within retail corridors, and suggests potential solutions.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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NWF - Natural Defenses in Action: Harnessing Nature to Protect Our Communities

June 21, 2016

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) report, Natural Defenses in Action, discusses the role that nature-based approaches can play in reducing the impacts of weather and other climate-related hazards. The report contains 12 detailed case studies demonstrating how communities across the country are already successfully using nature-based infrastructure to protect against flooding, coastal storms, erosion, and wildfire. The report concludes that these nature-based approaches can be more cost-effective than traditional, man-made hazard-mitigation structures and measures, while offering additional environmental benefits.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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