New Orleans and Bangkok are vivid examples of major urban areas recently affected by massive inundations of floodwaters. The pending effects of climate change may exacerbate this problem; yet, local decision makers lack a clear and consistent framework for analyzing the costs and benefits of alternative modes of adaptation. This article offers a primer on the economic analysis of three distinct modes of adaptation, with a view to assist planners in determining the best course of action for their respective cities. These responses include (a) physical modifications to the environment through adaptive topography and adaptive infrastructure, (b) modify land uses to locate or relocate vulnerable populations away from flood-prone areas, and (c) concentrate more efforts on clean up and recovery after the fact. Our analysis is designed to help planners determine which of these three adaptive responses to urban flooding are best suited to their own local circumstances.
AdgerW. N.ArnellN. W.TompkinsE. L. (2005). Successful adaptation to climate change across scales. Global Environmental Change, 15, 77-86.
2.
AertsJ.BotzenW. (2011). Flood-resilient waterfront development in New York City: Bridging flood insurance, building codes, and flood zoning. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1227, 1-82.
3.
BedsworthL. W.HanakE. (2010). Adaptation to climate change: A review of challenge and tradeoffs in six areas. Journal of the American Planning Association, 76, 477-495.
4.
BlancoH.AlbertiM.ForsythA.KrizekK. J.RodriguezD. A.TalenE.EllisC. (2009). Hot, congested, crowded and diverse: Emerging research agendas in planning. Progress in Planning, 71, 153-205.
5.
BlancoH.McCarneyP.ParnellS.SchmidtM.SetoK. C. (2011). The role of urban land in climate change. In RozensweigC.SoleckiW.HammerS. A.MehrotraS. (Eds.), First urban climate change research network (UCCRN) assessment report on climate change in cities (pp. 217–248). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
6.
BramleyM. E.BowkerP. M. (2002). Improving local flood protection to property. Journal of Civil Engineering, 150, 49-54.
7.
BrownA.DayalA.Rumbaitis Del RioC. (2012). From practice to theory: Emerging lessons from Asia for building urban climate change resilience. Environmental & Urbanization, 24, 531-556.
8.
BuiT. D.TranT. H.TranP.BuiD. T.BuiT. T. (2010). Local vulnerability and adaptation to extreme climate events along the central coast of Vietnam. In ShawR.PulhinJ. M.PereiraJ. J. (Eds.), Community, environment and disaster risk management, Volume 5: Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction: An Asian perspective (pp. 393-416). Bingley, UK: Emerald.
9.
CallawayJ. M. (2004). Adaptation benefits and costs: Are they important in the global policy picture and how can we estimate them. Global Environmental Change, 14, 273-282.
10.
CarminJ.AnguelovskiI.RobertsD. (2012). Urban climate adaptation in the global south: Planning in an emerging policy domain. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 32, 18-32.
11.
DanhT. V.MushtaqS. (2011). Living with floods: An evaluation of the resettlement program of the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Environmental Change and Agricultural Sustainability in the Mekong Delta, 45, 181-204.
12.
FuchsR. J. (2010). Cities at risk: Asia’s coastal cities in an age of climate change. Asia Pacific Issues: Analysis from the East-West Center, 96, 1-10.
13.
GordonP.LittleR. (2009). Building walls against bad infrastructure policy in New Orleans (Mercatus Policy Series, Policy Primer No. 10). Arlington, VA: Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
14.
HallegatteS.HenrietF.Corfee-MorlotJ. (2008). The economics of climate change impacts and policy benefits at a city scale: A conceptual framework (Working Paper). Paris, France: OECD.
15.
HeikkilaE. J. (2000). The economics of planning. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Center for Urban Development.
16.
JabeenH.JohnsonC.AllenA. (2010). Built-in resilience: Learning from grassroots coping strategies for climate variability. Environment & Urbanization, 22, 415-431.
17.
JonkmanS. N.Brinkhuis-JakM.KokM. (2004). Cost benefit analysis and flood damage mitigation in the Netherlands. Heron, 49, 95-111.
18.
KreibichH.ThiekenA. H.PetrowT.MullerM.MerzB. (2005). Flood loss reduction of private households due to building precautionary measures—Lessons learned from the Elbe flood in August 2002. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 5, 117-126.
19.
KwadijkJ. C. J.HaasnootM.MulderJ. P. M.HoogvlietM. M. CJeukenA. B. M.van der KrogtR. A. A.van OostromN. G. C.SchelfhoutH. A.van VelzenE. H.van WaverenH.de WitM. J. M. (2010). Using adaptation tipping points to prepare for climate change and sea level rise: a case study in the Netherlands. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews:Climate Change, 1(5), 729-740.
20.
LearyN. A. (1999). A framework for benefit-cost analysis of adaptation to climate change and climate variability. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 4, 307-318.
21.
McLemanR.SmitB. (2006). Migration as an adaptation to climate change. Climatic Change, 76, 31-53.
22.
MechlerR. (2005). Cost-benefit analysis of natural disaster risk management in developing countries (Working Paper 1). Bonn, Germany: Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (GTZ).
23.
NessimA.KonishiA.RoopJ. (2010). Ho Chi Minh city adaptation to climate change summary report. Mandaluyong, Philippines: Asian Development Bank (ABD).
24.
NguyenH. T.AdgerW. N.KellyP. M. (1998). Natural resource management in mitigating climate impacts: The example of mangrove restoration in Vietnam. Global Environmental Change, 8, 49-61.
25.
PalmerM. A.Reidy LiermannC. A.NilssonC.FlorkeM.AlcamoJ.LakeP. S.BondN. (2008). Climate change and the world’s river basins: Anticipating management options. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 6, 81-89.
26.
RabéP. (2010). Urban planning and development responses to climate change: Adaptation and mitigation (Final Report, HeikkilaEric J., Ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Pacific Rim Council on Urban Development.
27.
SmitB.PilifosovaO. (2001). Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable development and equity. Sustainable Development, 8(9), 9-28.
SolomonS.QinD.ManningM.ChenZ.MarquisM.AverytK. B.. . .MillerH. L. (2007). Climate change 2007: The physical science basis—Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
30.
Tran MaiK.Tuyen HanhT. T.CuongH. D.ShawR. (2010). Identifying linkages between rates and distribution of malaria, water-born diseases and influenza with climate variability and climate change in Vietnam. In ShawR.PulhinJ. M.PereiraJ. J. (Eds.), Community, environment and disaster risk management, Volume 5: Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction: An Asian perspective (pp. 417-449). Bingley, UK: Emerald.
31.
UyN.TakeuchiY.ShawR. (2010). Local adaptation to enhance livelihood assets and build resilience in Albany, Philippines. In ShawR.PulhinJ. M.PereiraJ. J. (Eds.), Community, environment and disaster risk management, Volume 5: Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction: An Asian perspective (pp. 237-260). Bingley, UK: Emerald.
32.
WalkerW. E.AbrahamseA.BoltenJ.KahanJ. P.vandeRietO.KokM.Den BraberM. (1994). A policy analysis of Dutch river dike improvements: Trading off safety, cost, and environmental impacts. Operations Research, 42, 823-836.
33.
WebsterD.McElweeP. (2009). Urban adaptation to climate change: Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh city as test bed. Unpublished Paper Presented at Fifth Urban Research Symposium, Marseille, France.
34.
WilbyR. L.KeenanR. (2012). Adapting to flooding risk under climate change. Progress in Physical Geography, 36, 348-378.
35.
World Bank. (2010). Climate risks and adaptation in Asian Coastal mega-cities: A synthesis report. Washington, DC: Asian Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency.
36.
World Bank. (2012). Thai flood 2011: Rapid assessment for resilient recovery and reconstruction planning. Bangkok, Thailand: Joint Publication of Ministry of Finance in Thailand and The World Bank on behalf of the International Development Partners.
