(Sure feels like we’re entering a new era, a true test of our resilience as a society, and as a species. – promoted by eli_beckerman)
Recently, I’ve noticed there has been a shift from talking about mitigation to adaptation to resilience when dealing with climate change. From my perspective, this is not a bad development as resilience focuses on practical preparedness for immediate hazards. This can partition change into small increments that are readily understandable and remove the polarized politics of climate change from the discussion. If you’re talking about measures to prevent system failure because of a weather emergency, it tends not to matter what your position is on greenhouse gases because everybody remembers the last hurricane, flood, or blizzard. In addition, resilience measures can also be adaptation and, even in some cases, mitigation strategies for climate change as well. At least, this is what I’m observing here in the Boston area and what I’ve heard out of post-Sandy New York and other areas.
This week I attended a discussion at the Boston Society of Architects about a new report, Building Resilience in Boston
pdf alert: http://www.greenribboncommissi…
Before the meeting, I spent some time scanning the document and found it to be superlative work, a great introduction to the concepts of urban design for resilience and emergency preparedness and, most especially, a fine literature search of the state of the art all around the world. If you want to begin the process in your own city or town, this document will give you plenty of useful ideas and show you where to get more. It is useful not only for cities like Boston, London, and New York but also towns like Chula Vista, CA and Keene, NH.
Another indication of growing seriousness on these issues I noticed is that the dangers from temperature extremes are entering the picture, especially since there has been a 2,300% increase in casualties from heat waves and 189% increase from cold snaps in the 2001 to 2010 decade (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/16/1224282/-World-Meteorological-Organization-Heatwave-Decade).
According to Christina Figueres of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, whom I also saw this week, there are over 300 cities around the world which are actively working on mitigation, adaptation, and resilience in the face of climate change. So while international organizations are struggling to find actionable agreements and individual countries are fighting to avoid responsibility, municipalities around the world are taking practical steps.
More on Boston (note that almost all the following reports are in pdf form):
Boston Harbor Association (2013). Preparing for the Rising Tide. Boston, MA.
http://www.tbha.org/preparing-…
City of Boston (2011). Climate Adaptation Plan: A Climate of Progress Update 2011. Boston, MA.
http://www.cityofboston.gov/im…
Boston Hazard Mitigation Report
http://www.cityofboston.gov/im…
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) (2011). Massachusetts Climate Change Adaptation Report. Boston, MA
http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/e…
Other Cities:
PlaNYC Report, A Stronger More Resilient New York
http://www.nyc.gov/html/sirr/d…
“…details the impact of Hurricane Sandy on the City, and evaluates the potential for future damage given climate change impacts. It then details the opportunities for improvement to the citywide infrastructure and built environment, specifical- ly coastal protection, buildings, and critical services (including utilities, energy, telecommunications, transportation, water and wastewater) as well as healthcare, insurance, and natural environments such as parks. The final section of the report describes the community rebuilding and resilience plans for different neighborhoods in the city.”
Toronto climate adaptation report, Ahead of the Storm: Preparing Toronto for Climate Change (2008)
http://www.toronto.ca/teo/pdf/…
Rising to the Challenge: The City of London Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. City of London Corporation, London, England.
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk…
City of London developed its adaptation plan in 2007 and updated it in 2010
“Assessing Climate Change Impacts, Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge Risk in Port Cities: A Case Study on Copenhagen,” Climatic Change 104:113-137. Hallegatte, S. et al. (2011).
You can access this report by searching on the title of this report at
http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org
“The study calculates the economic cost of storm surges under different scenarios relative to insured assets, population den- sity, and industrial assets. It provides estimates for direct losses as well as losses associated with reduced economic activity, replacement costs, and resources required for reconstruction instead of normal activities. It then provides cost-benefit curves for adaptation efforts.”
“Case Study: Keene, New Hampshire Leading on Climate Preparedness.” ICLEI (2010).
http://www.icleiusa.org/action…
“The case study describes Keene, NH’s adaptation planning, and concludes that the city’s inclusion of mitigation and adaptation planning into the comprehensive plan demonstrates institutionalization of climate protection into governance systems. It also describes some of the recent ordinances (such as hillside protection and surface water protection).”
Climate Adaption Strategies – Implementation Plans. City of Chula Vista. 2011
http://www.chulavistaca.gov/cl…
General Principles on Resilient Design and Actions:
Wilson, A. (2013). “RDI’s Resilient Design Principles.” Resilient Design Institute, Brattleboro, VT.
http://www.resilientdesign.org…
Disaster Resilience: A Guide to the Literature. NIST SP-117. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD. Gilbert, S.W. (2010).
http://www.nist.gov/manuscript…
“This report provides a description of the state of knowledge on disaster resilience and provides an extensive annotated bibliography. The approach includes individual constructed facilities as well as larger social and community systems.”
Literature Review of Urban Heat Island Mitigation Strategies. Institut National de Sante Publique, Quebec, Canada. Giguere, M. (2009).
http://www.inspq.qc.ca/pdf/pub…
“The Quebec Department of Health and Human Services addresses six areas for action to target urban heat island effects, including monitoring systems for real-time urban heat and related health impacts, spread of infectious diseases, and physical and psychosocial effects of extreme heat, and to support local healthcare organizations, preventive management, and training activities.”
Adaptation Tool Kit: Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Land Use. Georgetown Climate Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. Grannis, J. (2011). http://www.georgetownclimate.o…
“The tool kit provides tools and examples of each tool applied for sea level rise planning. The report lists advantages and disadvantages of each tool: land use, setbacks/buffers, conditional development and exactions, rebuilding restrictions, sub- divisions and cluster development, permitting for property armoring, rolling coastal management/easement statues, capital improvements, acquisitions and buyout programs, conservation easements, tax and other development incentives, transfer- able development credits, and real estate disclosures. The report describes evaluation and governance criteria for each tool. The report also separates the strategies into four categories: protect, retreat, accommodate, and preserve.”
The State of Adaptation in the United States: An Overview. Report for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, New York City, NY. Hansen, L. et al. (2013). http://www.georgetownclimate.o…
“This report analyzes the state of adaptation activities in the U.S., specifically focusing on agriculture, the built environment, human health, and natural resources management. The report generally concludes that there is a plethora of activities re- lated to climate change impacts assessment, and, to a somewhat lesser degree on vulnerability assessment, resources/tools, and planning, but there is a shortage of work in capacity building and implementation and essentially no activity in monitoring and evaluation of implemented projects.”
Green Building and Climate Resilience: Understanding Impacts and Preparing for Changing Conditions. University of Michigan and U.S. Green Building Council, Ann Arbor, MI. Larson, L. et al. (2011).
http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/Arch…
“The report describes the probable impacts from climate change at the global, regional and local scales, and discusses specifically the impacts on buildings. Appendix C provides general strategies for climate change adaptation for multiple sectors, including buildings.”
Adapting to Urban Heat: A Tool Kit for Local Governments. Georgetown Climate Center, Georgtown University, Washington, DC. Hoverter, S. (2012). http://www.law.georgetown.edu/…
“The report provides a tool for policymakers to consider several specific approaches to reduce urban heat island effects; spe- cifically, cool roofs, green roofs, cool pavements, and urban forestry options are considered for direct municipal actions and to provide incentives and education for citizens and businesses.”
Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact Communities (2012). A Region Responds to a Changing Climate Regional Climate Action Plan.” Southeast Florida Regional Compact, Palm Beach, FL.
http://southeastfloridaclimate…
“This report describes the collaborative effort among the counties in southeast Florida, and provides 110 action items to mitigate climate change impacts and adapt to climate change impacts.”
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, U.S. Department of Defense (2013). Assessing Impacts of Climate Change on Coastal Military Installations: Policy Implications. US Department of Defense, Washington, DC.
http://www.serdp.org/Featured-…
“The study analyzes the vulnerability of military coastal installations in the context of federal, state and local adaptation activities. It discusses the nature and extent of investments needed for improved resilience, and potential opportunities to work with local communities to improve resilience.”
Reducing Urban Heat Islands: Compendium of Strategies – Cool Pavements. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/hiri/resour…
Building Resiliency Task Force Full Proposals. Urban Green Council. June 2013.
http://www.urbangreencouncil.o…
“Mitigation Ideas: A Resource for Reducing Risk to Natural Hazards.” Federal Emergency Management Agency Risk Analysis Division. Jan 2013.
http://www.fema.gov/plan-prepa…
Weathering the Storm: Building Business Resilience to Climate Change. Center for Climate Change and Energy Solutions, Washington, DC. Crawford, M. and S. Seidel. http://www.c2es.org/docUploads…
Confronting Climate Change in the U.S. Northeast. Union of Concerned Scientists, Cambridge, MA. Frumhoff, P. et al. (2007).
http://www.climatechoices.org/…
“100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge.” Rockefeller Foundation (2013).
http://www.rockefellerfoundati…
National Research Council (2012). Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative. National Academies Press, Washington, DC.
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