Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
The forthcoming issue of Built Environment journal features a paper by an associate professor of urban planning at Texas A&M showing distinct variations in flood mitigation efforts by state and local governments in Texas and Florida.
In the paper, "Evaluating Local Flood Mitigation Strategies in Texas and Florida," Sam Brody, holder of the George P. Mitchell '40 Chair in Sustainable Coasts at Texas A&M University-Galveston, reported his findings after analyzing 21 mitigation strategies based on the results of a survey of more than 470 administrators and planning officials located in floodplains in the two states.
Sarah P. Bernhardt, and Jung Eun Kang, research assistants with Texas A&M's Hazard Reduction & Recovery Center, also contributed to the study, as did Sammy Zahran, then performing post-doctoral research with the Bush School of Government and now an assistant professor at Colorado State University.
"Despite the importance of understanding how and why flood mitigation techniques are implemented at the local level, few large-scale, empirical studies have been conducted in recent years," wrote Brody, who is also director of the Center for Texas Beaches and Shores at TAMUG, in the study's abstract.
Brody said studying decisions made at the local level is important because in the United States, flood mitigation efforts are increasingly becoming the responsibility of local decision makers.
The contents of current and past issues of Built Environment, a quarterly publication, are available online to subscribers. The December 2009 issue, "Climate Change, Flood Risk and Spatial Planning," which includes Brody's paper, should be posted soon.
For more information, visit the journal's website at:
http://www.alexandrinepress.co.uk
- Posted: Dec. 2, 2009 -
