Indicators for Flood Adaptation Assessment: The Case of New York City
(2020) VBRM15 20201Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety
- Abstract
- Due to both the effects of climate change and the high concentrations of infrastructure and socio-economic activity in low-lying areas in NYC, floods have the potential to destroy homes and businesses, impair infrastructure, and threaten human safety. Measurement, reporting, and verification are vital steps in evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of a climate change adaptation efforts. However, to date, there is no report that evaluates flood adaptation capacity in NYC nor a universal framework for flood adaptation assessment. The aim of this research is twofold. First it aims at developing a general framework for flood adaptation at the municipal level to guide decision-making in public investment and policy and to identify changes... (More)
- Due to both the effects of climate change and the high concentrations of infrastructure and socio-economic activity in low-lying areas in NYC, floods have the potential to destroy homes and businesses, impair infrastructure, and threaten human safety. Measurement, reporting, and verification are vital steps in evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of a climate change adaptation efforts. However, to date, there is no report that evaluates flood adaptation capacity in NYC nor a universal framework for flood adaptation assessment. The aim of this research is twofold. First it aims at developing a general framework for flood adaptation at the municipal level to guide decision-making in public investment and policy and to identify changes that can increase its flood adaptation capacity. Secondly, through a validation process with key experts, it suggests potential indicators that NYC could use to assess its flood adaptation, which are yet to be selected by the city. The resulting general framework is an adaptation of the framework developed in the NYPCC 2019 Report for assessing flood adaptation capacity, together with the categories for indicators used by ICLEI European Secretariat (2011) and contributions from other frameworks and field experts interviewed. Despite not being able to determine a concrete level with the current framework, the results have some implications for both NYC and future research. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- In the absence of significant regional adaptation efforts, rising temperatures, sea-level rise, and changes in extreme weather related events are expected to disrupt societies and generate losses of life and damage to critical infrastructure. Measurement, reporting, and verification are vital steps in evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of climate change adaptation efforts. Due to the lack of a framework that measures flood adaptation in New York City, this research adapted an existing framework that assesses general climate change adaptation with the aim to ascertain the current level of flood adaptation level of a city. In doing so, the research developed a generic framework to assess flood adaptation at the local level, which... (More)
- In the absence of significant regional adaptation efforts, rising temperatures, sea-level rise, and changes in extreme weather related events are expected to disrupt societies and generate losses of life and damage to critical infrastructure. Measurement, reporting, and verification are vital steps in evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of climate change adaptation efforts. Due to the lack of a framework that measures flood adaptation in New York City, this research adapted an existing framework that assesses general climate change adaptation with the aim to ascertain the current level of flood adaptation level of a city. In doing so, the research developed a generic framework to assess flood adaptation at the local level, which can be further adapted and used in other cities.
Although there are several guidelines, reports and approaches to measure flood adaptation, they present some gaps, such as how frequent these assessments happen. The final framework presented is an adaptation of earlier frameworks used by NYC and Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI). The framework developed in this research was further complemented and validated by inputs from field experts interviewed. When adapting this framework to cities, there are 4 different levels of adaptation that depend on the city’s vulnerability level and the anticipation of its negative consequences. These 4 levels, from lowest to highest, are: lower, lower-middle, upper-middle, and upper. These are determined by a set of indicators related to society, economy, ecosystem services and governance.
The study developed a set of guidelines, later applied to NYC, designed to know if a city would be affected by a big flood event given its current characteristics – referred to here as flood adaptation. By just following 8 steps, a detailed analysis of what your city should improve is obtained.
Whereas some sources state that NYC is not ready for another superstorm like Sandy, others state just the opposite. Despite not being able to ascertain NYC’s flood adaptation level, the assessment has some implications for the city. For instance, while NYC is investing a lot in protection of its infrastructure, making it less vulnerable to floods, it still has to improve when protecting that part of society that is more vulnerable, as well as its ecosystems.
This research is aimed at those who are interested in knowing more about how protected their city is against future floods. The application of the framework the research developed aims to guide decision-making in both public investment and policy, as well as to identify changes that can improve and, hence, increase the city’s flood adaptation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9020551
- author
- Bernal Aparicio, Cristina LU
- supervisor
-
- Mo Hamza LU
- organization
- course
- VBRM15 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Vulnerability, flood risk management, framework for flood adaptation, climate change, disaster risk reduction.
- language
- English
- id
- 9020551
- date added to LUP
- 2020-06-23 13:28:29
- date last changed
- 2020-06-23 13:28:29
@misc{9020551,
abstract = {{Due to both the effects of climate change and the high concentrations of infrastructure and socio-economic activity in low-lying areas in NYC, floods have the potential to destroy homes and businesses, impair infrastructure, and threaten human safety. Measurement, reporting, and verification are vital steps in evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of a climate change adaptation efforts. However, to date, there is no report that evaluates flood adaptation capacity in NYC nor a universal framework for flood adaptation assessment. The aim of this research is twofold. First it aims at developing a general framework for flood adaptation at the municipal level to guide decision-making in public investment and policy and to identify changes that can increase its flood adaptation capacity. Secondly, through a validation process with key experts, it suggests potential indicators that NYC could use to assess its flood adaptation, which are yet to be selected by the city. The resulting general framework is an adaptation of the framework developed in the NYPCC 2019 Report for assessing flood adaptation capacity, together with the categories for indicators used by ICLEI European Secretariat (2011) and contributions from other frameworks and field experts interviewed. Despite not being able to determine a concrete level with the current framework, the results have some implications for both NYC and future research.}},
author = {{Bernal Aparicio, Cristina}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Indicators for Flood Adaptation Assessment: The Case of New York City}},
year = {{2020}},
}