Overall Process
Community Engagement to identify assets within the communities that are threatened by flooding
Which flood-risk reduction measures are most valued by the Community?
Community-Valued Assets will be included in Stormwater Modeling Scenarios that are used to better understand current and future impacts of sea level rise
Co-Design Green Infrastructure will be refined in interactive workshops over time as a result of community feedback and engagement
Coordinate the implementation of the co-designed green stormwater interventions
CoPe is budgeted for modest stormwater interventions
Partner organizations (Elizabeth River Project) will seek opportunities (outside of CoPe funding) to supplement larger co-designed stormwater interventions
Assess Co-Benefit Improvements in health, well-being, community cohesion, and sustainability behaviors that result from the green infrastructure
Identify Equitable Policy Interventions and target populations (by neighborhood) with specific problems that scientists, engineers, and policymakers can incorporate into future research and solutions
Community Engagement
How can historically marginalized coastal communities be empowered to advocate for climate change resilience?
To promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in urban coastal resilience, our team will organize community workshops involving local residents. During these gatherings, we'll explain our research's purpose and benefits, addressing resident and stakeholder questions.
Building community trust is crucial
Asset Mapping
How can we effectively inventory community assets in a digital form to represent past, present, and future states of a coastal region?
We aim to inventory past, present, and future assets and environmental conditions in Norfolk, Virginia, resulting in the creation of an interactive Geographic Information System (GIS) for mapping and modeling endeavors.
Public datasets as well as community-identified assets will be included.
The focus will be on what people value for effective public infrastructure and health interventions.
Stormwater Modeling
How can we model flooding in urban coastal watersheds on the regional scale with sufficient local detail to support community-scale green stormwater interventions?
This task aims to create an innovative stormwater modeling system that combines expertise from architects, engineers, and scientists to understand urban coastal flooding. The model will assess how stormwater interventions, developed through community workshops, impact flood reduction.
We'll consider past, present, and future scenarios, including long-range projections up to 2100. These modeling techniques will consider ocean and riverine modeling, stormwater, surface hydrology, and groundwater. Furthermore, water quality data will be collected for calibration and evaluation.
Co-Design Green Infrastructure
What are effective means for communities to co-design with architects, engineers, and scientists green stormwater infrastructure systems to reduce flood risk, improve water quality, and provide co-benefits for mental health and wellbeing?
We will hold four interactive public workshops across three resident groups. The workshops aim to co-design stormwater solutions.
In these workshops, we will launch partnerships, interactive asset mapping, and project clarity, present asset mapping, flood mapping, and intervention scenarios based on preliminary modeling, discuss site-specific intervention scenarios, incorporating community feedback, and present final designs, co-benefits assessment, and equitable policies.
Co-Benefits of Green Infrastructure
Can we assess the mental health and well-being co-benefits of green stormwater interventions to capture not only the natural-built improvements like flood risk reduction and improved water quality, but also the co-benefits for human-scale like agency, motivation, health, etc?
This task focuses on assessing the mental health and well-being co-benefits of stormwater interventions designed. We aim to understand the positive impacts beyond water management, including health, community cohesion, and sustainability behaviors.
Equitable Policy Creation
How can we create equitable policies that seek to protect communities from flooding risks while also acknowledging differences and disparities across regions and the potential for increased inequality resulting from climate change?
This task is centered on developing regional or state-level public policies to promote equity in climate resilience. To achieve this, we first delve into the historical and environmental context of the region's coastlines. We'll utilize insights from the modeling scenarios to better understand the impacts on communities vulnerable to flooding and climate gentrification.
We will strive to facilitate citizen involvement by working closely with community organizations, removing practical barriers to participation, and ensuring transparency and trust in the research process. This approach aims to incorporate local knowledge and community perspectives into scientific understandings and policy interventions.