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.
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Resource
June 2020
Colorado has advanced recovery resources, but the state's risk profile will continue to increase in the coming years. The state did not have a tool to quantify the cost of future risks, until now. The Future Avoided Cost Explorer or "FACE:Hazards" tool includes a suite of resources that will enable local decisionmakers to evaluate the costs of future risks from flooding, drought, and wildfire across seven economic sectors over different climate and population projections between today and 2050.
Resource Category: Data and tools
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Resource
July 2019
The City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania addresses extreme heat and social disparities in its Beat the Heat Hunting Park Community Heat Relief Plan. The plan provides a roadmap of how to conduct an inclusive climate planning process through a community-based approach to combat urban heat emergencies. Beat the Heat was released in July 2019 by Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability (OOS), in response to increased heat being identified as one of the main climate change threats in the city. OOS found that communities, where low-income residents and residents of color reside, are also most vulnerable to the heat. To cope with the heat disparities, OOS initiated the Beat the Heat pilot project in Hunting Park, which was identified as the most heat vulnerable neighborhood. The purpose of the project is to learn the causes of heat disparities and utilize a community-driven decision-making process to generate possible solutions for staying cool in the future. The plan is a collaborative work effort of city agencies, Hunting park organizations, residents, and community groups. Through the community engagement process, three priority areas were identified: 1. Staying cool and safe at home, 2. Staying cool and safe in public spaces, and 3. Greening and tree planting. The plan also provides a step-by-step Beat the Heat Toolkit for other urban communities to reduce social inequities and build climate resiliency.
Resource Category: Planning
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Resource
April 2019
From the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) and the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), the San Francisco Bay Shoreline Adaptation Atlas offers nature-based coastal climate resilience strategies for the San Francisco Bay Area region of California. The Atlas presents a new view of the Bay area in a map divided into areas with common physical characteristics for which specific adaptation strategies can be developed to prepare for sea level rise. The report is intended to inform the regulatory community, regional governments, landscape designers, planners, developers, engineers, and other members of local communities in coordinating and planning for regional resilience - including flood control, transportation, parks, land use, and ecosystem restoration.
Resource Category: Solutions
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Resource
April 2019
From May 2016 until April 2019, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Office of Planning partnered with the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program to create three tools that support adaptation at the local level: an interactive data map — the Hawaii Sea-Level Rise Viewer , and two guidance documents — Integrating Coastal Hazards and Sea-Level Rise Resilience in Community Planning and Guidance for Disaster Recovery Preparedness in Hawaii . Much of Hawaii’s population and development exist on low-lying coastal plains that are vulnerable to erosion, flooding, and inundation. Building on the state’s 2017 Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report , the complementary tools are aimed at helping communities better prepare for future sea-level rise and other climate change impacts.
Resource Category: Data and tools
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Resource
April 2019
The Louisiana Land Use Toolkit was created by the Center of Planning Excellence (CPEX), as a model development code to support economically, culturally, and environmentally sustainable development for communities of Louisiana. The Toolkit applies “Smart Growth” principles to future development planning, aiming to create resilient communities, revitalized neighborhoods, increased land value, affordable housing, and protected rural, natural, and open space areas. The Toolkit is a free, online resource designed for Louisiana parishes and municipalities to tailor to local needs by adopting a zoning code, a subdivision code, or an individual ordinance — or to be customized into a complete development code.
Resource Category: Data and tools
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Resource
2019
The Maryland Park Equity Mapper combines layers of demographic and environmental data in order to determine the park equity of different census tracts in Maryland, allowing users to visualize disparities in park access and quality across the state. The tool was developed by the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health (CEEJH) Laboratory at the University of Maryland School of Public Health in partnership with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MD DNR) and University of Maryland Center for Geospatial Information Science (CGIS) . This tool can be used by residents and policymakers in order to identify underserved communities that are in need of new park infrastructure and green space.
Resource Category: Data and tools
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January 2019
The Maryland Environmental Justice Screen Tool (MD EJSCREEN) assesses environmental justice risks among census tracts in the state of Maryland. Developed by the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health Laboratory at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, this tool combines the average pollution burden of a community with the average population demographic characteristics to produce an Environmental Justice (EJ) score. Stakeholders advocacy resulted in the inclusion of six indicators of EJ risk specific to Maryland: asthma, emergency room discharges, percent non-White, proximity to treatment, storage and disposal facilities, myocardial infarction discharges, low birth weight infants, and particulate matter. Through this tool, Maryland residents can be better informed of disparities in EJ risk among different communities and their associated health impacts.
Resource Category: Data and tools
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Resource
2018
The National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) Urban Heat Island Mapping Campaign provides technical and financial support to urban areas to help them identify neighborhoods at greatest risk from heat stress. NIHHIS is an integrated system that develops science-based products and services for urban areas to understand and reduce health risks related to extreme heat, which is likely to increase in frequency and severity in many urban areas as a result of climate change. Cities receive training, loaned equipment, and data processing and other technical support through the Mapping Campaign. Once complete, each participating city has detailed heat distribution data and maps, as well as a final report detailing the work and findings.
Resource Category: Funding
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Resource
October 2018
The Urban Adaptation Assessment (UAA) is an interactive database within a visual platform to support city leaders in decisionmaking related to climate adaptation and resilience. The tool utilizes data from over 270 cities within the United States, including all 50 states and Puerto Rico, whose populations are above 100,000. The UAA is free, open source data - in a user friendly tool to help prioritize climate strategies and mechanisms for sustained urban climate resilience. For each city, indicators of climate vulnerabilities in the built environment, and indicators of social vulnerability are established and mapped at a sub-city or census tract level.
Resource Category: Assessments
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September 13, 2018
The Environmental Resilience Institute Toolkit (ERIT) is a publicly-accessible online tool designed primarily for communities of Indiana and midwestern states to assess, prepare for, and respond to “environmental change. ” ERIT has a special emphasis on Midwestern communities but includes resources for small to mid-sized communities in both rural and urban areas across the U. S. The toolkit includes case studies, adaptation strategies, adaptation planning tools, and potential funding sources.
Resource Category: Data and tools
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