Policies for Dynamic Coastal Risk

Many of our traditional land use, regulatory, and risk management policies and programs assume—at least implicitly—that land is permanent and risk is unchanging. Coastal areas, however, are dynamic places. Beaches grow and are worn away. Sea level is rising. Development and migration toward the coast continues. Climate change is altering storm patterns. Nonetheless, our policies—and just as importantly, the expectations of residents—may not reflect these changing conditions.

The Policy Incubator is helping find tools and models for coastal communities that can protect them against changing storm risks, mute the negative impacts of sea-level rise, maintain the value of coastal ecosystems, and preserve economic value for coastal residents and visitors.

A simple black and white icon of an ocean wave.

Highlights:

Improving the financial recovery from coastal disasters

This project is exploring four novel insurance solutions with the public and private sectors to improve the financial resiliency of coastal communities to changing climate risks with funding from a National Science Foundation grant.

Digital Dialogue: Communicating Changing Risk

How can changing flood risk be better communicated to households and communities? In this Dialogue undertaken with the First Street Foundation, experts weigh in with their ideas for making risk communication more effective.

Speeding Up Post-Disaster Housing Buyouts

Communities may need to rethink past development patterns, particularly in coastal areas, and buyouts will be one increasingly necessary tool. This paper proposes three solutions for speeding up federally funded floodplain buyouts.