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Climate Resilient Development at the Local Level: ParkSmart Sustainable Parking Initiative
Sustainable parking systems save space, increase energy efficiency, and reduce the environmental impacts of parking garages. Because of these incentives, municipalities and private actors will spend less money on overhead costs like electricity and gas, thus enabling...
Climate Resilient Development at the Local Level: Sustainable Parking Strategies
In the United States, surface parking lots alone cover more than five percent of all urban land, representing an area greater than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined. Unfortunately, when municipalities allow soil, vegetation, and trees to be replaced...
Climate Resilient Development at the Local Level: Local Planning and Zoning for Food Production in Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona is a top producer in agriculture with the county ranked number one in the state for the total value of agriculture products sold including milk, poultry, and eggs, with 60% of the farms in the county fewer than nine acres in size. Like many cities in...
Could NYC Manage a Retreat from Flood Zones? Part 2: Land Swaps
In my previous blog I assessed the feasibility of floodplain buyout programs in New York City, ultimately noting that while state and federal buyouts would work well for certain homeowners, they would fail to address the needs of the vast majority of those living in...
Could NYC Manage a Retreat from Flood Zones? Part 1: Floodplain Buyouts
As climate change increases the likelihood and intensity of extreme weather events, the potential for life- and property-threatening catastrophic flooding increases with it. Managed retreat is a coastline management approach intended to mitigate this threat through...
Climate Resilient Development at the Local Level: Implementing Baltimore’s Pedestrian-Oriented Development Through the Climate Action Plan
Baltimore’s Mayor introduced its Climate Action Plan (CAP) with these words: “While we as a City alone cannot change the course of world climate patterns, we must do our part. The City of Baltimore’s Climate Action plan is our promise to take action, reduce our...
Climate Resilient Development at the Local Level: Zoning in Response to Sea Level Rise
The increase in global temperatures caused by human activity is contributing to sea-level rise worldwide. Humans are discharging vast amounts of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere resulting in the melting of glaciers and the expansion of seawater as it warms....
Climate Resilient Development at the Local Level: Using Local Land Use Authority to Achieve Climate Resilient Development
Author: John R. Nolon; Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus; Co-counsel, Land Use Law Center In the recently released Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate Resilient Development is described as a principal...
A Constitutional Right Not to Travel? Using the Inverse of an Established Constitutional Right in the Climate Migration Context to Challenge Harmful Government Action
Climate Migration Anthropogenic climate change is arguably the problem of our generation. Unchecked burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, unsustainable development practices, industrial agriculture, and the global transportation sector are just a few examples of the...
Climate Resilient Development at the Local Level: Leveraging FEMA Programs for Floodplain Remapping Initiatives: A Guide for Local Municipalities
Floods present one of the greatest threats to communities in the United States. Flooding is involved in 90% of all natural disasters and every state has experienced a flood in the last five years. In response to the increases in federal disaster relief due to...