A Climate Impact Assessment Service for Urban and Regional Planning
- Azavea Inc., Philadelphia, PA (United States)
The goal of this research has been to address a critical need for readily accessible modeling tools that enable local decision-makers to more effectively work with the climate data released by federal research labs and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. These individuals need more than the standard visualizations of global-scale temperature and precipitation changes that are currently available on informational websites; they need that information presented in useful formats that are easy to understand and that can inform their plans for adapting to a changing climate. They need to be able to make the case to their local policymakers, mayors, and city managers that the cost of inaction is significantly higher than the cost of taking action. Most importantly, they need access to individualized assistance to guide them through the adaptation planning process at low-cost. While larger municipalities may have the resources to work with climate change adaptation planners, many smaller organizations have limited resources to devote to creating action plans. These organizations need straightforward guidance on identifying the climate risks to their communities and suggestions of action steps they can take to prepare for those risks. Under the Phase II project, Azavea developed Temperate, a subscription-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that enables decision-makers to visually and dynamically explore high-resolution climate change data without the need for years of specialized training, complex data assimilation, or huge investments in technology infrastructure. In addition to climate data visualizations, Temperate provides access to a guided process for identifying climate hazards for the customer’s community in an intuitive, well-designed user experience and recommends action steps and adaptation plans that have been proposed and vetted by other cities facing similar challenges. Through our partnership with ICLEI- USA, Temperate customers also have immediate access to a large network of communities interested in sustainability and the ability to receive adaptation planning assistance from experienced ICLEI staff members. Temperate’s target market is the many municipal governments that are current ICLEI members, potential members, or that work with ICLEI within its various networks, including USDN and ASAP. Both Azavea and ICLEI are also well connected to other local government and regional sustainability organizations interested in climate adaptation planning, and we believe there is additional opportunity with public utilities that want to protect their valuable assets from extreme weather events. In short, Temperate supports the public outreach activities, policy development, climate change adaptation, and resource allocations that will assist a range of organizations and advance the common good.
- Research Organization:
- Azavea Inc., Philadelphia, PA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0011303
- OSTI ID:
- 1471236
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase II)
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-AZAV-11303
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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