Building Resilience to Climate Change with Smart Growth and Green Infrastructure

1. Building Resilience to Climate Changewith Smart Growth and Green Infrastructure

2. Why cities need to adapt • Climate change is happening • Cities are starting to see real impacts from climate change • Heat waves • Heat island effects • Flooding • Drought • Sea level rise • Adaptation is local and regional because of variability of risks

3. Urban planning is the right process for adaptation • Regular updates to infrastructure such as water utilities, roads, and transit. • Planners use future population projections to make development decisions. • Adaptive planning solutions can be integrated into comprehensive land use plans, capital improvement plans, zoning and building codes, improved flood maps, and incentives for development and conservation.

4. Three Case Studies • Lyon, France • Barcelona, Spain • Rotterdam, The Netherlands

5. Lyon

7. Barcelona

10. Rotterdam

13. Major Takeaways • Sense of Urgency Matters • Adaptation Solutions Should Have Community, Economic, and Environmental Benefits • Effective Adaptation Requires Planners, Scientists, Engineers, and Politicians • Effective Adaptation Requires Public Participation and Outreach

14. 1. Sense of Urgency Matters Amsterdam Amsterdam Rotterdam Rotterdam Den Haag Den Haag Source: Gemeente Rotterdam, dS+V

15. 2. Need Solutions with Multiple Benefits

16. 3. Effective Adaptation Requires Planners, Scientists, Engineers, and Politicians

17. 4. Effective Adaptation Requires Public Participation and Outreach

18. Let Cities Lead the Way • In the United States, the federal government can learn from and foster local and state innovation. • EPA and FEMA Partnership • Current call for applications for EPA Smart Growth Implementation Assistance • HUD included climate change adaptation in challenge grants