Community / Local

In 2012, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) initiated a five-­year project to integrate sea level rise adaptation into current planning mechanisms, including the local comprehensive plan, hazard mitigation plan, and post-­disaster redevelopment plan.  One of the focus areas is to provide statewide guidance on how to implement an Adaptation Action Area  at the local level. Through funding from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), DEO engaged the South Florida Regional Planning Council (SFRPC) to assist in the research for Adaptation Action Area implementation strategies. The SFRPC is working with the City of Fort Lauderdale, which is serving as one of the state's Adaptation Action Area pilot communities, and  Broward  County  to  test  adaptation  policy  options  to  be  incorporated  into  the  City's Comprehensive Plan. This report is part of a portfolio of resources developed during the Community Resiliency Initiative, a five-year project funded by NOAA through the Florida Department of Environmental Planning’s Florida Coastal Office and carried out by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. The Community Resiliency Initiative focused on coordinating planning efforts throughout the State and integrating sea level rise adaptation into existing planning mechanisms, including local comprehensive plans, local hazard mitigation plans, and disaster redevelopment plans. The Community Resiliency Initiative worked to examine existing data and practices related to current sea level rise adaptation planning efforts and develop guidance for agencies and communities to consider as they plan for and implement adaptation strategies. More information about the Community Resiliency Initiative can be obtained by contacting the Florida Coastal Office at (850) 245-2094 and asking for the Florida Resilient Coastlines Program. 

With a multisolving approach to addressing health and climate challenges, people are designing the communities that they want to live in while at the same time preventing and preparing for climate change. For many of the projects, the system-wide benefits exceeded the costs. And the projects tended to create benefits, from more children walking to school, to a better patient experience, to increased opportunities for recreation, that were appreciated in the organizations and communities where the projects happened.

The study identified the following success factors that were common themes across the case studies:

• Leadership shown by individual or organizational champions of projects
• Cyclical learning and growth in partnerships over time
• Strong engagement and communication with partners, collaborators, and the communities being served by the project
• Measuring and communicating the multiple benefits of the project
• Including a strong financial plan or a low-cost project design
• Anticipating and confronting resistance to change

This guide is a resource for community-based organizations (CBOs) and city residents to advance equitable development through active engagement in the City of Los Angeles community plan update process.

• Part I Provides an overview of the community plan update process and offers key considerations for effective community engagement.
• Part II Provides a toolkit of planning and policy tools to advance equitable development outcomes within these new community plans. These tools are organized according to five broad principles of equitable development.

This guide is non-exhaustive, and meant to spur thoughtful dialogue among engaged residents and organizations. Ultimately, it is the leadership and experiential knowledge of affected low-income communities that will drive an equitable community plan campaign. Specific strategies will be responsive to the unique circumstances and dynamics of each community plan area. This guide is intended to support that effort.

The US Forest Service has published a new report that presents the first-ever synthesis on agroforestry as a mechanism to provide mitigation and adaptation services in the face of a changing climate. With contributions from more than 50 experts from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, this report draws upon recent science and shows how tree-based management strategies can improve agricultural production and resiliency.

The Regional Plan, as adopted in 2006, emphasized a balanced approach to development and established targets for directing housing growth over the life of the Regional Plan (2006-2031). Twenty-five percent of the growth was to be directed to the Regional Centre (Peninsula Halifax and Dartmouth between the Circumferential Highway and Halifax Harbour); fifty percent directed to the urban communities (communities serviced with publicly managed water and wastewater services outside the Regional Centre) and the remaining twenty-five percent to the rural areas.

In preparing the first five year review of the Plan, the Stantec Quantifying Study was commissioned to assess the public, private and social costs and benefits of various growth scenarios from 2011 to 2031. That Study also considered how these scenarios may impact our environment, health and social well-being and benchmarked HRM with other Canadian and US municipalities to assist in this evaluation. 

The goal of the Hawaiian Islands Climate Synthesis Project was to develop comprehensive, science-based syntheses of current and projected future climate change impacts on, and adaptation options for, terrestrial and freshwater resources within the main Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiian Islands Climate Vulnerability and Adaptation Synthesis presents the results of the major project components - climate impacts assessment, vulnerability assessment, and adaptation planning - and provides an inter-island analysis of the findings. More detailed information is available in the individual vulnerability assessment syntheses and adaptation summaries, and should be referred to for decision support, which can be found at http://bit.ly/HawaiiClimate.