Planning Guides for Rural and Small Communities
This tab includes guides to help practitioners conduct adaptation planning within rural areas and small communities.
Resources are automatically presented by rating, but can be sorted by date or title. Apply additional filters to narrow the list by impact, jurisdictional focus, state, or region.
13 results are shown below.
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Resource
September 2007
This guidebook was developed by the Climate Impacts Group (CIG) at the University of Washington and King County, Washington, in association with ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability. The purpose of the guide is to help decision-makers in a local, regional, or state government prepare for climate change by recommending a detailed process for climate change preparedness based on familiar resources and tools.
Related Organizations: Center for Science in the Earth System (CSES) , King County, Washington, University of Washington, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability , Climate Impacts Group (CIG)
Resource Category: Planning
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July 2014
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have partnered to provide Vermont with technical assistance in planning for long-term flood resilience. The goal of the collaboration is to incorporate smart growth principles into local policies, development regulations, and hazard mitigation plans. The project is a product of EPA's year-long Smart Growth Implementation Assistance project in Vermont.
Related Organizations: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) , U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Resource Category: Planning
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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.
Related Organizations: Center for Planning Excellence
Resource Category: Data and tools
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October 2016
This USDA report provides information and resources to help farmers prepare for and respond to the regional impacts of climate change. The report summarizes the effects of climate change on agriculture and natural resources in the Midwest and Northeast U. S. and overviews strategic options for climate adaptation in agriculture. The USDA provides new resources to bring climate change planning to the farm - including adaptation strategies and approaches, an adaptation workbook, and examples for assessing and planning.
Related Organizations: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Resource Category: Planning
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2019
In 2019, the Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe (IDJC) collaborated with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to release a field guide, Preserving Our Place — A Community Field Guide to Engagement, Resilience, and Resettlement: Community Regeneration in the Face of Environmental and Developmental Pressures . IDJC is in the process of relocating from the Louisiana coast to a new community further inland due to significant land loss and flooding impacts. The field guide was developed to serve dual purposes: first, to document the community engagement process that IDJC has developed throughout its resettlement planning process; and second, to provide procedural guidance and lessons learned for communities that are also contemplating large-scale relocation. The field guide can be used by other tribal or frontline coastal communities that are considering potential larger-scale managed retreat or relocation strategies to adapt to climate change impacts like sea-level rise and other stressors and pressures, like environmental justice and encroaching development.
Related Organizations: National Academy of Sciences , Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe
Resource Category: Solutions
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June 2015
The North Carolina Agriculture and Forestry Adaptation Work Group (NC-Adapt) has found that climate change risks to North Carolina’s agriculture and forestry industries warrant expanded and accelerated adaptive management planning. In this report, NC-Adapt reviews summarized climate impacts for the sectors, and outlines an adaptive management plan to improve agriculture and forestry resiliency and economic viability.
Related Organizations: North Carolina Agriculture and Forestry Adaptation Work Group (NC-Adapt)
Resource Category: Planning
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April 2015
In 2014, the City of Storm Lake, Iowa was chosen for a pilot project by the Iowa Economic Development Authority to develop a plan for city-wide green infrastructure technology for improved urban water management - including storm, sanitary, and potable water solutions. This Plan is meant to serve as a case study and guidance document for green infrastructure planning in other communities. The Plan demonstrates a process that can be replicated and scaled to any size city.
Related Organizations: Iowa Economic Development Authority, City of Storm Lake, Iowa
Resource Category: Planning
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2015
This report argues that Regional Development Organizations (RDOs) are uniquely poised to support resilience planning by taking actions such as bridging governmental and functional boundaries, identifying funding opportunities, supporting planning, providing technical expertise, and helping to communicate key messages. It also makes the case that regional organizations have a pivotal role in rural landscapes where formal government capacity is weak. The report synthesizes the literature on resilience, describes the role of RDOs, and presents the latest developments around measuring resilience.
Related Organizations: National Association of Development Organizations (NADO)
Resource Category: Planning
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May 2011
The Drought-Ready Communities pilot project culminated in 2010 with this "Guide to Community Drought Preparedness" that communities throughout the U.S. can use to understand and reduce their drought risk. The process outlined in the Guide is broad-based, recognizing that drought creates problems that go beyond the scope of which water suppliers alone can address.
Related Organizations: National Drought Mitigation Center , Oklahoma Climatological Survey , Illinois State Water Survey, Lower Platte River Corridor Alliance
Resource Category: Planning
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March 2011
Recognizing that climate change adaptation is particularly difficult for small communities, the Canadian Institute of Planners published this climate adaptation Handbook for small towns and cities. While it was designed for Canadian communities, the processes described are applicable in the U.S. context.
Resource Category: Planning
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