• equitably?

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Fri Apr 15 22:30:40 2022
    equitably?
    New research overlays sociodemographic, green infrastructure and
    stormwater flood risk data to assess equitable distribution of green infrastructure

    Date:
    April 15, 2022
    Source:
    Portland State University
    Summary:
    New research combines demographic data with the distribution of
    GI and geographic areas prone to rainwater flooding in Portland,
    Phoenix and Atlanta and asks whether these cities are equitably
    building GI to mitigate flood risks.



    FULL STORY ==========================================================================
    As cities grow, the area of impervious surfaces they cover grows. In
    cities across the US, roads, rooftops, parking lots, sidewalks and
    driveways increased by an average of 326,000 hectares per year between
    2012 and 2017.


    ==========================================================================
    When it rains, stormwater gathers on these surfaces or flows into gutters, storm drains and sewer systems. However, extreme precipitation events
    can overwhelm a city's capacity to transport stormwater, resulting in
    urban floods.

    The introduction of green infrastructures (GI), such as bioswales with permeable surfaces, has provided municipalities with a new tool to
    manage flood risk associated with rainfall. Cities including Portland,
    Phoenix and Atlanta have developed plans and invested in implementing
    GI to mitigate the risk of floods.

    New research from Portland State University combines demographic data
    with the distribution of GI and geographic areas prone to rainwater
    flooding in Portland, Phoenix and Atlanta and asks whether these cities
    are equitably building GI to mitigate flood risks.

    The paper, "Urban flood risk and green infrastructure: Who is exposed to
    risk and who benefits from investment? A case study of three US cities," appears in Landscape and Urban Planning.

    According to the paper's lead author, Arun Pallathadka, a Ph.D. student in
    the Earth, Environment and Society program at Portland State, the research
    team found that the placement of GI in each of the cities inconsistently overlapped with areas prone to rainwater flooding, and non-white and
    low-income populations were more vulnerable to flood risk. Portland and
    Phoenix have increased investments in GI in neighborhoods with higher populations of non- white and low-income residents, marking a transition
    to more equitable flood risk management. In Atlanta, the risk of rainwater flooding was relatively low for non-white and low-income residents,
    though there was a substantial disparity in GI coverage.

    "Flooding is the costliest natural hazard," Pallathadka said. "But
    when we talk about flooding, the focus is often on the floodplain,
    on rivers. But with climate change, we're expecting an increase in
    flooding associated with rainfall events. We wanted to know where the
    hotspots in cities are associated with a risk of flooding from rain, who
    are the people living in those communities, and where are cities placing infrastructure to help reduce the hazards." In addition to the spatial, temporal and demographic analysis, the research team, which includes
    Heejun Chang, a professor of geography at Portland State and Jason Sauer
    and Nancy Grimm of Arizona State University, developed that can be used
    by researchers, city planners and policymakers to categorize neighborhood
    risk levels. Cities can use the tool to help guide investments in GI to neighborhoods most at risk of flooding from rainfall events. A conceptual framework for understanding the distribution and implications of urban
    pluvial flood risk and green infrastructure (GI) in urban communities.

    The methods deployed by the team provide cities with a novel approach to assessing the need for GI in neighborhoods prone to flooding associated
    with rainwater while also planning for the equitable distribution of
    those resources as they move ahead under the threat of increasing extreme precipitation events associated with a warming planet.


    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Portland_State_University. Original
    written by Shaun McGillis. Note: Content may be edited for style and
    length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Arun Pallathadka, Jason Sauer, Heejun Chang, Nancy B. Grimm. Urban
    flood
    risk and green infrastructure: Who is exposed to risk
    and who benefits from investment? A case study of three
    U.S. Cities. Landscape and Urban Planning, 2022; 223: 104417 DOI:
    10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104417 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220415124724.htm

    --- up 6 weeks, 4 days, 10 hours, 50 minutes
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)