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Land Use and Built Environment Case Studies

This tab features case studies that describe examples of how adaptation has been incorporated into decisions about land use and the built environment.

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City Resilience Framework

April 2014 (Updated December 2015)

Supported by The Rockefeller Foundation and developed by Arup’s International Development team, the City Resilience Framework is a holistic, evidence-based framework for understanding city resilience to inform urban planning and investment decisions. The Rockefeller Foundation is using the framework to create resilience-building agendas at city-level with current members of their 100 Resilient Cities Network. Presenting an inclusive method for articulating city resilience, the framework underpins and reinforces the City Resilience Index's full suite of indicators and variables.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Floods in Boulder: A Study of Resilience

April 2014

This research examines a potentially catastrophic flooding event in Boulder, Colorado in September 2013. Though the scale of flooding was unprecedented, “only” 10 lives were lost, most infrastructure was maintained, and the recovery has been considered successful. In this study, the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (ISET) examines Boulder’s demonstrated flood resilience, and how the physical and human systems, as well as legal and cultural norms played into Boulder's flood response.

Authors or Affiliated Users: Karen MacClune, Chris Allan, Kanmani Venkateswaran, Lea Sabbag

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Prince George's County, Maryland - Clean Water Partnership Youth Engagement Program

January 2014

The Clean Water Partnership (CWP) was established in 2014 between Prince George’s County, Maryland, and a private company, Corvias, to retrofit 2,000 acres to facilitate better, more resilient stormwater management. A significant component of the CWP - which has been extended 30 more years and to 4,000 more acres - is educating the community on resilient infrastructure and environmental literacy. Much of this engagement and education centers around the youth of Prince George’s County. Several programs, including the Junior Achievement Finance Park and End Time Harvest Ministries, have established training, internship, and educational programs for students throughout the school district.

Resource Category: Education and Outreach

 

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Sand Berm to Protect Del Monte Avenue in Monterey, California

The shoreline along southern Monterey Bay has historically been subject to strong surge during storm events. These surge conditions are predicted to worsen in the future due to climate change. Each year on November 1, the City of Monterey creates a temporary sand berm to provide flood protection for Del Monte Avenue and an adjacent bike path.   Del Monte Avenue is a low-lying road that runs adjacent to the public beach.   The berm is designed to reduce the likelihood that storm surge will inundate the road.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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New York City Green Infrastructure Demonstration Projects

2014

New York City’s Green Infrastructure Program utilizes an adaptive management approach based on pilot project monitoring results and information collected and assessed from green infrastructure demonstration projects. Neighborhood Demonstration Areas were established in New York City pursuant to a March 2012 Modified Consent Order with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. This Order formalized the City’s inclusion of green infrastructure as an important component of its plan to reduce combined sewer overflows (CSOs) into local waterways, and improve the ecological health and quality of New York City harbor water.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Lessons Learned From Irene: Climate Change, Federal Disaster Relief and Barriers to Adaptive Reconstruction

December 2013

From the Georgetown Climate Center, this case study examines the challenges encountered by Vermont localities in trying to use federal disaster relief funds to rebuild their transportation system to be more resilient to future impacts in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.

Authors or Affiliated Users: Justin Clancy, Jessica Grannis

Resource Category: Law and Governance

 

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Seattle, Washington Department of Transportation (Seattle DOT) Elliott Bay Seawall Project

November 2013

The City of Seattle (City), through its Department of Transportation (SDOT), began a project to replace an aging seawall in Elliott Bay that protects and supports critical transportation infrastructure from coastal storms and shoreline erosion.   The original seawall was built between 1916 and 1934 atop timber piles and is at risk of failure in the event of an earthquake due to years of deterioration of the timber caused by waves and tidal forces. The updated seawall will have a minimum 75-year lifespan, provide protection for critical infrastructure (taking sea-level rise into consideration), meet current seismic standards, and improve natural habitat and salmon migration pathways.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Boston Architectural College Green Alley Initiative

October 2013

The Boston Architectural College (BAC) installed a green alley demonstration project on its campus located in the Back Bay area of Boston along the Charles River.   The green alley used permeable pavement to allow stormwater to percolate through the road bed to recharge groundwater and filter pollutants.   The project was designed to be replicable and to help with public education on the benefits and design of green infrastructure. The purpose of the green alley is to reduce polluted runoff by filtering and redirecting rainfall to the groundwater table.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Toolkit for Resilient Cities

September 25, 2013

The “Toolkit for Resilient Cities” is a report prepared by Arup, Siemens and the non-profit Regional Planning Association, that explores the role of technology in enhancing the resilience of cities and their critical infrastructure systems, and the enabling actions that can support a new approach to system design and delivery.

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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Toward a Sustainable City: The State of Innovation in Urban Sustainability

September 2013

This report from the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN) reviews the current progress in sustainable urban development innovations. USDN is a peer-to-peer network of 120 municipal government sustainability professionals and 400 of their staff members in cities and counties in the U. S. and Canada.   This report describes the emergence and implications of the comprehensive field of urban sustainability across the public, private, nonprofit, and academic sectors, where innovation is a driving force.

Authors or Affiliated Users: Peter Plastrik, Julia Parzen

Resource Category: Solutions

 

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