CREATING RESILIENT, REVITALIZED PLACES: Integrating revitalization with resilience is the key to successful climate adaptation.

by Storm Cunningham, RE

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, some 13,000 miles of U.S. coastline are at significant risk from sea level rise and other climate crisis-related risks. That’s not including Alaska, Hawaii or U.S. possessions.?This puts about 300,000 residential, commercial and industrial properties at risk of chronic, disruptive flooding within the next 30 years.

The cumulative value of those properties is about $136 billion, so it’s little wonder that one sees the words “resilience” and “adaptation” everywhere these days. But don’t confuse talk with progress: public leaders are seriously worried, because they know they have no process for reliably delivering resilience.

There are many kinds of community resilience, of course: social, economic, physical, environmental, etc. In this video, we’ll focus on resilience to flooding and sea level rise, which is the most prevalent challenge, not to mention the most expensive to address. I say flooding and sea level rise because the climate crisis is creating extensive flooding problems in many non-coastal cities.

“The impacts of climate change can set off a cascade of consequences in a community, including altering biophysical conditions, public safety, human health, structural viability, and social, economic and cultural stability. Not only that, but these consequences interact by either escalating or moderating the impacts. A vulnerability assessment is a systematic way to identify these consequences and evaluate the level of risk presented to a community. …For example, sea-level rise may endanger critical transportation infrastructure in coastal areas, which has the potential to disrupt evacuation routes, posing a threat to public safety.”

– from Climate Action Planning: A Guide to Creating Low-Carbon, Resilient Communities (Island Press, 2019)

Also, there’s more to sea level rise than just flooding: salt intrusion into aquifers is becoming an existential threat to many coastal cities, such as Miami. But also in cities we don’t normally think of as coastal, such as Philadelphia, which gets its drinking water from the Delaware River, whose salt line gets closer to the city every year.

It’s not so much a matter of its becoming non-potable: almost all drinking water has salt in it. Long before it reaches unhealthy or unpalatable levels, saline water will corrode water infrastructure, possibly releasing decades of accreted toxins from the pipes, as happened with the Flint, Michigan disaster.

But don’t assume that your community is on the verge of losing its drinking water to salt intrusion just because it’s on the coast. Charleston, South Carolina, for instance, has long obtained its drinking water from far inland. So, while storms and sea level rise are certainly producing chronic flooding issues, at least they don’t have to worry about running out of water to drink, as does Miami.

Readers of my third book, RECONOMICS: The Path To Resilient Prosperity (KDP, 2020) know that failure to link resilience efforts with revitalization efforts via a strategic process is the primary reason that the vast majority of revitalization and resilience initiatives fail to make any significant impact.?

We call that strategic renewal process the RECONOMICS Process.?It’s designed to produce both revitalization and resilience. It works, in large part, because both goals are achieved via adaptation and regeneration.

By “regeneration”, we mean repurposing, renewing and reconnecting (the 3Re Strategy) our built, natural and socioeconomic environments. The two goals go hand-in-hand: all places want to improve their economy and quality of life (revitalization), and they want that revitalization to last (resilience). Resilient Prosperity, in other words. Resilient prosperity is a universal goal, which means it can tap a broader funding pool---and enjoy more popular and political support---than either revitalization or resilience alone.

Even if a community is thriving, it usually has at least one area or neighborhood that could use some revitalization. But no matter how good their current condition, all places should be working to revitalize, because there’s no such thing as healthy stasis in a complex adaptive system (which is what a human or wildlife community is): if you’re not revitalizing, you’re devitalizing. If you’re not regenerating, you’re degenerating.

And, if you wish to produce anything---toothpaste, torpedoes or revitalization---you need a process.

In this article, we’ll focus on applying that process to achieving resilience…specifically, climate resilience in coastal communities, which is now the largest and most urgent urban challenge on the planet. Never before has the majority of the world’s most valuable developed real estate been at risk of being rendered near-worthless by sea level rise and the increase in the frequency and severity of storms.

With some 40% of the global population living within 50 miles of a coast, this is also a humanitarian crisis, not just one for real estate investors. And that 40% figure only includes those close to oceans: the vast majority of the remaining population lives near rivers, streams and lakes that are far more subject to flooding that ever before, due to a variety of factors, including the climate crisis.

But there are myriad articles and books that have documented the risk in detail: what we’ll focus on here is how communities can best respond to these heightened risks.?

I’ll present the various coastal resilience tactics within the context of the RECONOMICS Process---since it’s the most reliable path to both revitalization and resilience.

That process has six components: regenerative program, regenerative vision, regenerative strategy, regenerative policies, regenerative partnerships and regenerative projects. Although the components are presented as a linear flow in the graphic, most of them will overlap and/or are iterative in nature.

This is the minimum viable process: you can add to it (such as a plan), but can’t subtract.

If you’re wondering why a plan is not part of that process, read RECONOMICS: The Path To Resilient Prosperity . Plans are actually one of the major causes of failure in revitalization and resilience initiatives.

Just ask the folks at the failed “100 Resilient Cities” initiative of the Rockefeller Foundation---who produced tons of plans---or ask any city that’s been suffering from Perpetual Planning Syndrome for decades.

I won’t keep repeating the word “regenerative” throughout this article, so please keep in mind that all six elements of the process must be regenerative in nature for the process to produce revitalization and/or resilience.

Maybe the best overall book on coastal adaptation and resilience is “A Blueprint for Coastal Adaptation: Uniting Design, Economics & Policy”, published by Island Press in 2021.

In the Introduction of that book, the authors say “Local and state governments have written adaptation plans full of laundry lists of investments that could help improve resilience. We have lots of plans, perhaps too many, and not enough political will. Moving from reports to implementation has been a challenge.”

PROGRAM:

The first step in creating a strategic renewal process is to establish an ongoing program. Neither revitalization nor resilience is likely to emerge from isolated projects, nor from isolated visions. I’ve been in cities that had literally dozens of competing visions of their future.?Create your ongoing program first: creating a shared vision will be its first task.

Uncertainty about a place’s future has become a major factor in real estate valuation. If you want to attract real estate investors, residents and employers---or at least stop losing them---you need to boost confidence in the future of your community. That only comes from the momentum and series of successes created by an ongoing program.

This is even more important in the case of coastal areas, due to the urgency. Revitalization and resilience are both important, but when you add urgent to important, the situation changes greatly. What’s more, the situation is constantly shifting, such as with the arrival of a major hurricane and the ensuing damage.

Under such circumstances, an ongoing program is essential, so that new data is constantly gathered, evaluated, disseminated and acted upon. The program also ensures that the other five elements are implemented.

Who should host your local resilient prosperity program (or whatever you call it)? There are three basic choices, a local government agency, a local non-profit, or creating a new umbrella entity.

Using a government agency has the advantage of legitimacy, not to mention the authority to both tax and?regulate. The downsides are incessant politics, the multiple other priorities that will distract their attention or draw on their budgets, and the risk that everything will come to a screeching halt with a change of administration.

Using an established local non-profit or foundation has the advantage of grassroots support and far less political intrigue. The downsides are their lack of authority, and competition---or even outright conflict---with other local organizations.

If you don’t have viable options in either of those categories, creating some sort of entity to act as an umbrella organization can work. This “organization” could be a single trusted individual.

VISION:

A vision is a cohesive, ambitious, achievable set of goals. A good vision acts as what the construction---and other---industries refer to as a “performance specification”: a set of measurable goals based on outcomes, not on rigid, prescriptive instructions.

The shared vision of a community should not just be a compilation of daydreams (which it too often is): it should be data based. Before creating the vision of what they wish to achieve, communities should inventory, evaluate and map their natural, built and socioeconomic assets. If you don’t understand your challenges and opportunities, it's hard to define a rational path forward.

In the case of coastal communities, the most essential element of that data gathering is to accurately assess which properties are likely to be flooded, given the “new” climate reality. In the U.S., this goes beyond simply referencing FEMA flood maps, since most of those maps are grossly out of date, and were never based on actual data to begin with.

With a well-run process, the shared public vision will drive everything else. Effective stakeholder engagement is essential in revitalization efforts, but it’s even more crucial in resilience work. That’s because a major portion of the discussion will be about which properties to abandon and demolish…properties that might have been occupied by the same families for generations, and which comprise no small part of the community’s heritage. Emotions are guaranteed to run high.

So, the vision is where the majority of the public engagement should be. If the subsequent policies, partnerships and projects?are filtered by that vision, far less stakeholder engagement is needed, which makes for speed and efficiency, lubricated by trust.?If you can’t trust your leaders, you should at least be able to trust your process.

The best resilience visions will be those that integrate revitalization-related goals: they will find ways to protect themselves from damage in ways that actually add greenspace, enhance affordable housing, reconnect fragmented neighborhoods, improve quality of life, etc. Such multifaceted solutions are not only achievable: they are often easier to finance, and to “sell” to the public.

STRATEGY:

A strategy is your path to success; it’s how you overcomes the chief obstacles to achieving your vision. Since it needs to guide decision-making on a moment-by-moment basis, a strategy must be concise and memorable, usually no more than two or three sentences. If you need to constantly take a book off the shelf to find out what your strategy is, you might don’t have one: you probably have a plan instead.

In the case of climate adaptation and resilience, strategies for dealing with flooding come in four basic flavors: Avoid (get out of the way); Resist (stand and fight); Accommodate (let certain areas flood); and Communicate (ensure that everyone understands the risks they face, and what they can do as individuals).

In most cases, flood-related strategies will include multiple categories. For instance, in some communities, the “Avoid” strategy will mean relocating their most vulnerable properties, often via buyouts, as Mecklenburg County, North Carolina has been doing quite successfully. By restoring those properties to wetlands, they are simultaneously using the “Accommodate” strategy.

In other cases, “Avoid” means relocating the entire community, as happened with Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana.

Some places, like Atlanta, Georgia have combined revitalization and resilience beautifully, turning frequently-flooded properties into a beautiful wetland park that has boosted the economy and quality of life of a low-income African American neighborhood.

The specific tactics employed by each of those basic strategies will also vary tremendously. The “Resist” strategy, for instance, could be achieved via grey infrastructure (dikes and levees, pumps, etc.) or via green infrastructure (living coastlines, mangrove and reef restoration, etc.)

Both Miami and Miami Beach are considering the Resist strategy, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposing that they hide behind a 20-foot wall. This might protect them from tidal and storm flooding, but would add to pluvial flooding, as rain water gets trapped behind the wall.

It’s also likely to devitalize their economies, since the ocean view is why people live there. If a wall is really necessary, why not reconnect and revitalize neighborhoods by making it a linear park, similar to NYC’s High Line?

Although it could be done within the Program or the Vision element, Strategy is often a good time to establish baseline data/photos for the characteristics of your community that you intend to change.?It’s hard to measure progress if you don't document starting points.

The California Office of Emergency Services and their Natural Resources Agency have devised a climate change adaptation strategy development process that you might consider using. Here’s my abbreviated and slightly modified synopsis of it:

1. EXPOSURE EVALUATION: What climate change-related effects are likely to affect your community?
2. IDENTIFY SENSITIVITY: What local elements would likely be affected by those climate effects, such as community functions, populations structures?
3. IMPACT EVALUATION: How would those climate effects likely affect your sensitive local elements?
4. EVALUATE YOUR ADAPTIVE CAPACITY: What have you done---or are currently doing---to eliminate or mitigate those impacts?
5. PRIORITIZE NEEDS: Which of the above impacts would respond to adaptive actions?
6. IDENTIFY TACTICS & STRATEGIES: Which adaptive tactics and strategies would address your needs?
7. PRIORITIZE ACTIONS: Put your identified strategies and tactics in three levels of priority: the highest priority would be those that are both Urgent & Important. Next are those that are Important but not Urgent. Last are those that are Urgent but not Important. (An example of the last category would be if your mayor’s backyard tennis court has flooded.)
8. PHASED IMPLEMENTATION: Most of this work will be ongoing: your adaptations will themselves likely need to be adapted over time. So, phased implementation will make funding, staffing and monitoring your efforts more manageable.

POLICIES:

All the visions and strategies in the world won’t help much if outdated local policies prevent you from doing what’s needed. Ideally, they should actively support your resilience initiatives. So, just as with your properties, an inventory and evaluation of relevant policies is needed. Root out the ones that stand in your way, and add ones that will help fund or otherwise strengthen your efforts.

Policies by themselves achieve little, of course: they need to be reflected in your budget, your zoning, your development incentives, etc.?As Canadian urban planner Brent Toderian says, “The truth about a city’s aspirations isn’t found in its vision. It’s found in its budget.”

In the U.S., zoning is a discipline in need of a total revamp. Many of the worst community problems---social, economic and environmental---are the direct outcome of bad zoning. Zoning is the primary tool affecting land use, and intelligent land use is at the heart of effective resilience efforts.

In the “Blueprint” book cited earlier, the title of Chapter 11 is “Flux Zoning: From End-State Planning to Zoning For Uncertainty”. In it, the authors say “In the absence of innovative climate adaptation and resilience policy tools, costly engineered solutions and conventional “end state” planning will continue to proliferate and fail.”?

End-state planning and zoning rigidly describe a “highest and best use” for properties, requiring a lengthy process to approve exceptions to that use, thus greatly reducing the ability of a community to adapt expeditiously. Flux zoning is based on a dynamic range of fluctuating parameters, thus aiding the adaptive management of cities that’s so crucial in the 21st century.

In the case of coastal or otherwise flood-threatened places, resilience-related policies take a wide variety of forms to achieve a broad array of agendas:

• Federal and state policies should allow---even encourage---flood insurance premiums to accurately reflect the risk…and to stop providing insurance entirely in places that have no business being developed. Currently, taxpayers nationwide are subsidizing the folks who choose to build in high-risk locations.
• Zoning must be renovated to accurately and dynamically reflect underlying---and shifting---socioeconomic, environmental and risk-related realities. At the very least, elevation-based zoning is needed: the densification of higher ground is a given, to house the refugees (people, retailers, industrial operations, etc.) from lower-lying areas;
• State and local policies must be amended to allow communities to use performance-based financing tools (such as Environmental Impact Bonds, or EIBs), which tend to produce far better results, and which have the fringe benefit of better engaging local stakeholders in partnerships.
• Federal policies also need to made more flexible as regards resilience and disaster-recovery funding. For instance, many small communities lack the capacity to effectively put large amounts of federal funding to use or to finance it properly (such as by issuing general obligation or revenue-specific bonds). Federal policy often prohibits disaster funding from being applied to finance costs and performance payments (such as for EIBs), so making that one policy change would greatly enhance local resilience efforts.
• You’ll need policies to fund and implement the cleanup of abandoned or soon-to-be-abandoned flood-prone properties, so they don’t become health hazards (such as flying debris, contamination of flood waters, etc.) when hurricanes or other disasters hit.

PARTNERSHIPS:

Public-public and public-private partnerships have become the norm for large-scale community redevelopment projects, largely as a result of tax reduction measures that are starving government at all levels.

Partnerships are even more crucial for coastal communities, since the cost of making themselves more resilient to sea level rise and climate-enhanced storms is far greater than the cost of most normal redevelopment efforts. Oftentimes, local funding sources must be combined with both state and federal funding sources to have any hope of reaching a viable funding level.?That means communities and regions need to improve their public-public partnering skills, and add to their partnering tools.

Public-public partnerships aren’t just needed to funding purposes, of course. The best resilience efforts will be regional in nature, so partnerships are needed among communities, counties and states to overcome jurisdictional obstacles. New regional organizations and legal entities will be needed, such as Coastal Land Management Zones.

Public-private partnering is less prevalent in coastal resilience work, as the rewards seldom compensate for the risks.?It simply makes more sense for redevelopment firms and real estate investors to move inland, to higher ground. Since that’s where many residents and businesses will be going, it also makes sense from a buy-low-sell-high perspective.

According to UN-Habitat, such partnerships work best is they have the following eight characteristics: Ambitious; Inclusive; Fair; Comprehensive / Integrated; Relevant; Actionable; Evidence-Based; and Transparent / Verifiable.

When evaluating potential partners, research them thoroughly so you can answer four questions:

• Do they have ready resources to bring to the table, and are they the resources we need? Typical resources would be money, property, data or labor.
• Do they have a reputation for being trustworthy and reliable?
• Would associating with them enhance or detract from your credibility?
• Do they have proven partnering experience and skills? Talk to some of their current partners.

Of course, if they are the sole source of a crucial resource, such as the key piece of property that makes a project work, the other three questions might be moot, so you’ll have to evaluate the risks.

PROJECTS:

Everything prior to this has been leading up to projects. Projects are where the rubber meets the road: they are the action that programs, visions, strategies, policies and partnerships are meant to facilitate.

Again: all six of these elements---especially the projects---must be regenerative in order for the outcome to be revitalization and/or resilience. The project types are far too numerous to list: the socioeconomic projects alone comprise dozens of basic types. Physical projects generally fall into the eight-sector taxonomy first documented in my first book, The Restoration Economy (Berrett-Koehler, 2002).?These sectors are defined largely economically, not scientifically: they are primarily contract-based.

Watershed restoration, fishery restoration, ecological restoration (such as to enhance biodiversity) and regenerative agriculture comprise the four sectors of the “natural” category.?Brownfields remediation/redevelopment, infrastructure renewal, heritage restoration and catastrophe recovery/reconstruction comprise the four sectors of the “built” category. Each of those sectors have multitudinous sub-categories, of course. Infrastructure, for instance, comprises transportation, power, telecommunications, water, wastewater, solid waste, etc. And each of those sub-categories have sub-categories of their own.

To learn more about coastal adaptation and resilience, there are tons of excellent books dealing with specific technologies and design approaches, but the best place to start would be the previously-mentioned A Blueprint for Coastal Adaptation : Uniting Design, Economics & Policy (Island Press, 2021).

Another recent book of value is Climate Action Planning: A Guide to Creating Low-Carbon, Resilient Communities , published by Island Press in 2019. This book goes into great detail regarding organizing local climate efforts, and on integrating them into the local planning process.

While it does address resilience and adaptation, the book is primarily focused on climate mitigation…reducing the local emission of greenhouse gases (GHG).?

That’s obviously valuable, but---given the current urgency of the climate situation---I would have preferred it had the authors had set their sights on climate restoration: carbon-negative strategies that heal the climate, rather than simply slowing down the rate of its destruction.

Article excerpted from a Continuing Education video for the certified Revitalization & Resilience Facilitators (RRFac) of RECONOMICS Institute in Washington, DC.

RECONOMICS Institute strengthens urban, rural and natural places worldwide by training certified Revitalization & Resilience Facilitators (RRFac). Most local attempts at recovery or resilience fail to make a significant impact. Revitalization & Resilience Facilitators provide the crucial missing ingredient for success: a strategic process. Most communities have many projects that contribute to revitalization and resilience. But they lack a proven, ongoing process to reliably produce the desired end result: lasting economic, social and environmental renewal. This RECONOMICS Process also enables cities and regions to integrate revitalization and resilience efforts. Integrating them weds the short-term benefits of revitalization with the long-term benefits of resilience, increasing funding and public support for both.