Modeling watershed flooding and adaptive flood management: an integrative plan for research, teaching and learning. (NSF award number 0346673)

This research project addresses coastal flooding problems by implementing an interactive research and educational program on flood mitigation, sustainable watershed management, and policy learning. It develops a framework for adaptive decision making for coastal flood hazards by integrating research, education, and information dissemination. The research component focuses on the impacts of wetland development on coastal watershed flooding and policy learning at the community level to mitigate the adverse impacts of flood damage to the human and natural environment. A two-phase longitudinal research design employs both quantitative and qualitative analyses to investigate flooding problems in Texas and Florida. Phase will use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to examine the spatial pattern of wetland development over a ten-year period and correlate this development with coastal watershed flooding. Phase two will identify thresholds of policy learning by examining how communities adjust and adapt to repetitive flooding. Both research phases will use multivariate analysis to measure the effects of wetland development on flooding and the effects of flooding on policy adjustment while controlling for socioeconomic, biophysical, and other contextual factors. The education component of the project will develop place-based learning modules on coastal watershed management and flood mitigation. A series of interdisciplinary, problem-based seminars will provide an authentic learning experience to prepare future scientists, teachers, and policy makers to address ecosystem-level hazards issues.


Articles:

Brody, S.D. and Wesley E. Highfield. Does Planning Work? Testing the Implementation of Local Environmental Planning in Florida. (Forthcoming). Journal of the American Planning Association.

Brody, S.D., Wesley E. Highfield, and Sara Thornton. (Under review). Planning At the Urban Fringe: An Examination of the Factors Influencing Nonconforming Development Patterns in Southern Florida. Environment and Planning B.