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.
Resources are automatically presented by date. Apply additional filters to narrow the list by state, impact, region, or jurisdictional focus.
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Resource
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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2016
The City of New Orleans is prioritizing efforts to provide safe, affordable housing as part of its resilience strategy. In June 2016, the City released its Housing for a Resilient New Orleans: Five-Year Strategy, that lays out the City's approach for protecting and enhancing safe and affordable housing as the City continues to rebound from Katrina and other hurricanes. Although the Strategy does not explicitly address climate change, it does talk about the resilience challenges posed by the lack of safe and affordable housing and it discusses the city's plan for preserving and enhancing existing affordable housing and building new housing.
Resource Category: Planning
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May 2016
The Urban Land Institute’s Returns on Resilience project features case studies on real estate developments that incorporate resilient design measures while maintaining positive business outcomes.
Resource Category: Solutions
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April 2016
Utilizing case studies from extreme flooding events, this paper synthesizes lessons learned, hazard mitigation strategies, and best practices in adaptation. The focus is on nonstructural adaptation strategies such as disaster planning and mitigation, and property buyouts. The best practices for implementing nonstructural adaptation strategies are also discussed with respect to impacts on, and solutions for, vulnerable communities. The paper is grounded in three case studies of flooding events that each caused widespread damage, occurred across a range of demographic and socio-economic conditions, and involved both structural and nonstructural post-disaster adaptation strategies.
Resource Category: Solutions
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March 10, 2016
This guide from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides practical solutions to help drinking water utilities respond to and recover from drought - although it is not intended to serve as regulatory guidance. The interactive, user-friendly guide provides worksheets, best practices, videos and key resources for managing drought emergencies and building long-term resilience. It also relays lessons learned and case studies for seven small- to medium-sized utilities nationwide that have faced extreme drought conditions.
Resource Category: Solutions
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March 1, 2016
C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group has developed a series of eleven Good Practice Guides for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and climate vulnerabilities. Climate Change Adaptation in Delta Cities provides a review of successful approaches drawn from the experiences of cities engaged in C40’s Connecting Delta Cities Network, which are relevant for coastal river delta cities around the world. The good practices shared in the report range from strategies to complete case studies from cities such as Jakarta, Copenhagen, London and New York.
Resource Category: Solutions
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2016
The Atlanta BeltLine project demonstrates how cities can reuse underutilized sites and facilities to enhance city resilience to future climate impacts. (However, the BeltLine project is not being designed explicitly as a climate change adaptation project.) With the BeltLine project, the city is converting 22 miles of disused railway beds surrounding the city into a biking and pedestrian loop and a streetcar line, which will include 1,300 acres of new and 700 acres of restored greenspace.
Resource Category: Solutions
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January 2016
In January 2016, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the City of Minot, North Dakota $74.3 million through its National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC) to implement several projects to improve the city’s resilience to flooding from the Souris River. In June 2011, Minot experienced a catastrophic flood. The flood, in combination with a “boom-bust” oil economy and lack of affordable housing, motivated the city to envision a more resilient future for its residents, economy, and environment. Among its winning projects, the city will implement a voluntary buyout program for homes most vulnerable to flooding along the Souris River and make resilient, affordable housing investments in higher, upland “Resilient Neighborhoods” located outside of the city’s floodplain to relocate homeowners and renters. Minot’s unique “buyouts for buy-in” model will help to preserve the city’s tax base and community cohesion. The city will also undertake projects to restore the floodplain, preserve open space, create recreational greenways, and provide resilient city hubs that offer economic job development and other services. Local policymakers and planners can consider the Minot example to equitably relocate people and development out of vulnerable flood or coastal areas to safer, higher ground as a part of comprehensive managed retreat strategies.
Resource Category: Solutions
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January 2016
Wetlands Watch, Hampton University, and Old Dominion University collaborated to develop flooding resiliency designs for Chesterfield Heights, a neighborhood in Norfolk, VA. The Norfolk region has been named the 10th most at risk from sea level rise of the world’s port cities by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This design proposal emphasizes adaptation solutions that protect the region’s coastal ecosystems, as well as conducting flooding and sea level rise adaptation at the street and parcel level.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Skip Stiles , Mason Andrews, Mujde Erten-Unal
Resource Category: Planning
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2015
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Coastal Management Program developed the Resilient Coastal Communities Initiative (RCCI) to provide New Jersey’s coastal communities with climate impact assessments, adaptation planning assistance and technical support. The RCCI created a standardized vulnerability assessment tool as well as a self-assessment for municipalities to connect preparedness and planning to adaptation opportunities. The RCCI also provides policy, regulatory, and management recommendations for building resilience.
Resource Category: Solutions
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