Assessing complex trade-offs across coastal adaptation alternatives: incorporating urban context, climate uncertainty and stakeholders.

As communities seek to advance their climate adaptation plans, deciding what projects to implement and when poses a significant challenge, particularly given the remaining uncertainties related to climate impacts, as well as dealing with limited resources for project implementation within communities. Using the Coastal Flood Adaptation Strategy of the City of Surrey, the proposed research brings together elements from existing methods to develop a decision support tool to evaluate different sequences of project implementation across multiple climate scenarios. The results could help communities prioritize projects and identify key moments at which implementing other strategies might be needed. The proposed approach could also be used in other areas of climate adaptation planning, such as in stormwater management or dealing with urban heat waves.

Faculty Supervisor:

Stephanie Chang

Student:

Partner:

City of Surrey

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Public administration

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: