Climate Adaptation and Resilience
We assess the vulnerability of communities and infrastructure to sea-level rise, hurricanes, extreme precipitation, and other climate hazards. We develop practical strategies for climate action, land-use planning, managed relocation, and long-term community resilience.
Concept of Climate Adaptation and Resilience
Climate Adaptation and Resilience focuses on assessing the vulnerability of communities and infrastructure to climate hazards such as sea-level rise, hurricanes, and extreme precipitation, and on developing practical strategies to plan for those risks.
This field has expanded significantly as coastal cities face mounting climate pressures. Current research spans vulnerability assessment, land-use and relocation planning, infrastructure resilience, and increasingly, how to bring local governments, residents, and institutions like insurers into the adaptation process together, rather than treating adaptation as a purely technical exercise.
Key Questions We Aim to Answer
How vulnerable are coastal communities and infrastructure to sea-level rise, and how does that vulnerability vary across neighborhoods and regions?
How will land use and population patterns shift as communities respond to flooding and sea-level rise, including through planned or managed retreat?
How can local governments, residents, and insurance systems collaborate to support more effective coastal adaptation?
How resilient is transportation and other critical infrastructure to sea-level rise and flooding, and how can that resilience be improved?
Featured Research
Planning for hydrologic and ecological impacts of sea-level rise on the sustainability of coastal water resources
Sea level is projected to rise by 1 m or more by 2100. A common concern for rapidly growing coastal communities is storm-driven inundation of coastal zones, but another subtle and potentially more critical impact will be changes to drinking water resources from salt water intrusion into aquifers along the coasts …
A Parameterized Climate Change Projection Model for Hurricane Flooding, Wave Action, Economic Damages, and Population Dynamics
Hurricanes and other tropical cyclones are one of the leading natural threats to coastal communities. In the last five years, the United States has experience some of its highest hurricane surges on record with the surges generated along the Gulf of Mexico by Hurricanes Ike, Rita, and Katrina …
Development of Sea Level Rise Adaptation Planning Procedures and Tools Using NOAA Sea Level Rise Impacts Viewer
Funded by Gulf of Mexico Sea Grants, University of Florida researchers are conducting research to explore the use of current sea level rise decision support tool in developing more resilient coastal adaptation plans in Tampa Bay area. By working with local planners in the case study area, this project aims to answer the following …
Selected Publications
Fu, X., & Peng, Z. R. (2019). Assessing the sea-level rise vulnerability in coastal communities: A case study in the Tampa Bay Region, US. Cities, 88, 144-154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.10.007
Han, Y., Chen, C., Peng, Z. R., & Mozumder, P. (2021). Evaluating impacts of coastal flooding on the transportation system using an activity-based travel demand model: a case study in Miami-Dade County, FL. Transportation, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-021-10172-w
Han, Y., Ash, K., Mao, L., & Peng, Z. R. (2020). An agent-based model for community flood adaptation under uncertain sea-level rise. Climatic Change, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02802-6
Song, J., Fu, X., Wang, R., Peng, Z. R., & Gu, Z. (2018). Does planned retreat matter? Investigating land use change under the impacts of flooding induced by sea level rise. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 23(5), 703-733. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-017-9756-x
Fu, X., Gomaa, M., Deng, Y., & Peng, Z. R. (2017). Adaptation planning for sea level rise: a study of US coastal cities. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 60(2), 249-265. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2016.1151771
Wang, H. W., Peng, Z. R., Wang, D., Meng, Y., Wu, T., Sun, W., & Lu, Q. C. (2020). Evaluation and prediction of transportation resilience under extreme weather events: A diffusion graph convolutional approach. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 115, 102619. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2020.102619