Land Use Planners Need To Consider Future Effects Of Climate Change

December 2, 2008 10:49 a.m. EST

Amherst, MA (AHN) - Land use planners need to start considering the future effects of climate change, especially before launching expensive road, bridge and infrastructure projects, experts say.

University of Massachusetts Amherst land use planner Elisabeth Hamin and colleagues say that cities and towns need to begin assessing predicted impacts of climate change, such as warmer winters, more severe storms and more intense rainfall to avoid being surprised by what comes.

Hamin and colleagues in Australia recently completed a study to help community leaders of 68 fast-growing, medium-sized coastal towns there plan for predicted changes.

What they found was that some housing developments just being constructed are in areas that are predicted to be under water in 10 years.

Hamin said that what they found in Australia is pertinent to expected future conditions from climate change in the United States.

"Their experience is absolutely relevant for us here in the United States," Hamin said in a statement, "because we're just coming out of a long period when we've built very little infrastructure. We need new roads, bridges, storm drains and transit systems. And it looks like the new administration will move ahead with at least some new projects. Based on our findings, what we suggest is, let's start thinking ahead."

Her "Planning for Climate Change Report" was published this year. Hamin said the impetus for the study came from mayors in Australia who saw what happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck and wondered if it could happen there.