Planning for green infrastructures to enhance the resilience of coastal communities to compounding floods
Implementing Organization
University of South Florida
Overview
DWH Project Funding
$100,000
Known Leveraged Funding
$0
Funding Organization
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine – Gulf Research Program (NASEM - GRP)
Funding Program
NASEM Gulf Research Program Grants
Details
Project Category
Science
Project Actions
Environmental Research
Targeted Resources
Project Description
This planning proposal, developed in close collaboration with the City of Tampa, aims at engaging vulnerable and diverse communities along the lower Hillsborough River toward the design of nature-based solutions (NBS) to improve resilience against sea-level rise and storm impact. The low-lying project area is identified by the City as a crucial area highly vulnerable to sea-level rise. The Tampa metropolitan area has not experienced a direct hurricane hit with a significant storm surge in over 100 years, although the region has a high exposure to tropical storms. The project team will work closely with the City to engage at-risk communities. The project area includes the entire 17-km stretch of the tidally influenced Hillsborough River downstream of the reservoir dam, which meanders through most of the City. Initial field investigation indicates that nearly the entire stretch of the river is armored with poorly designed and disorganized seawalls and ripraps. Most infrastructures were constructed at a lower sea level and have not been tested by a major storm. This planning study included three consecutive stages. Stage 1 will be devoted to literature research on the communities and infrastructures. Stage 2 will identify three at-risk communities. Stage 3 will focus on building trust with the communities, understanding their resiliency needs, communicating potential impacts of sea-level rise and storm surge, and discussing benefits of NBS. All three stages will be conducted in close coordination with the City. The product of this project is a full proposal for a community-engaged phase-2 design of NBS.
Contact
Ping WangNone
pwang@usf.edu
Project Website
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