Land Use and Built Environment Climate Science and Tools
This tab presents climate science and tools for understanding climate change impacts in land use and the built environment and potential adaptation options.
Resources are automatically presented by rating, but can also be sorted by date and title. Apply additional filters to narrow the list by resource type, impact, region, state, or jurisdictional focus.
129 results are shown below.
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Resource
2012
The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a public domain model jointly developed by USDA Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) and Texas A&M AgriLife Research, part of the Texas A&M University System. SWAT is a small watershed to river basin-scale model to simulate the quality and quantity of surface and ground water and predict the environmental impact of land use, land management practices, and climate change.
Resource Category: Data and tools
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January 2012
From the Global Cool Cities Alliance, this toolkit provides online access to a comprehensive set of resources for initiating cool roof and pavement programs. Cool, reflective roofs and pavements are readily available, pay back beyond their investment, and help cities both mitigate and adapt to climate change while making them more desirable and comfortable places to live. Replacing roofs and pavements with more reflective materials also helps to reverse the 'urban heat island effect.'
Resource Category: Data and tools
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December 2011
The Coastal Storm Surge Scenarios for Water Utilities, created by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), provides a visual representation using a map interface of hurricane strike frequency and worst-case coastal storm surge inundation scenarios (Storm surge inundation refers to the abnormal rise of water generated by a storm, over and above the predicted astronomical tides). This map aims to illuminate historical trends in coastal storm surges and flooding, in order to aid decision-makers tasked with improving coastal resiliency and emergency preparedness.
Resource Category: Data and tools
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August 2011
This report from the Federal Transit Administration compiles climate change adaptation analyses and information for use in adapting U.S. public transportation assets and services to climate change impacts. The report is targeted at transit professionals and aims to prompt the consideration of climate resiliency in the transit industry by providing sector-specific adaptation information.
Author or Affiliated User: Tina Hodges
Resource Category: Solutions
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From the National Drought Mitigation Center of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, this database stores and displays comprehensive information related to drought impacts in the U.S. Accessible information provides key drought context and detail, as well as readily summarized information on impacts related to:
Resource Category: Data and tools
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Resource
2011
Researchers at Portland State University (PSU) and the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium developed a framework for assessing climate change vulnerabilities to multi-modal transportation systems using a geographic information system (GIS). They used Portland as a case study for testing the GIS model and provided recommendations for how the GIS could be used to develop adaptive responses in the transportation sector. In the study, the researchers focused on two climate impacts that could affect surface transportation networks in Portland – flooding and landslides - and used GIS to model hazard locations in Portland.
Authors or Affiliated Users: Lindsay Walker, Miguel A. Figliozzi, Ashley R. Haire, John MacArthur
Resource Category: Data and tools
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Resource
2011
The Alaska University Transportation Center (AUTC) of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, has supported multiple projects to research measures to reduce permafrost thaw and the resulting impacts to roads, specifically along the Alaska Highway (the only road connecting Alaska to the continental U. S. ). Structural damage occurs when the permafrost under road infrastructure thaws. Thermal modeling demonstrates that the stability of permafrost below roadways and embankments is greatly affected by surface temperatures of roadways, and it has therefore been predicted that as the climate warms, permafrost degradation will be a major issue for the design and maintenance of roads in Alaska.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
2011
EPA's Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities seeks to provide targeted technical assistance to communities to protect the environment, promote equitable development and help address the challenges of climate change using a variety of tools that have demonstrated results and widespread application. This technical assistance is designed to help selected local and/or tribal governments to implement development approaches that improve public health, create jobs, expand economic opportunity, and improve overall quality of life.
Resource Category: Data and tools
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September 2010
This report, published by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), aims to encourage the implementation of energy conservation measures (ECMs) at publicly owned wastewater treatment works (POTWs) by providing accurate performance and cost/benefit information. The report’s focus is mainly on energy efficient equipment replacement, operational modifications, and process control enhancements that lead to improved energy efficiency and cost savings with reasonable payback periods (10 years or less).
Resource Category: Solutions
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2010
The City of Toronto developed its Climate Change Risk Assessment Tool, a software program and review process, to enable Toronto’s service and infrastructure providers to identify climate change risks and assess potential actions to reduce the impacts of climate change on infrastructure. Toronto’s Transportation Services Division (TSD) tested the tool in a 2011 pilot study, examining the impacts on 90 assets and services from seven extreme weather event types over two time horizons. The TSD pilot found that the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is expected to quadruple the number of extreme risk scenarios by 2050.
Resource Category: Data and tools
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