Effective climate adaptation planning helps communities understand climate risks, identify vulnerabilities, and prioritize actions that build long-term resilience. Because many climate impacts cross jurisdictional boundaries, regional coordination can help communities better prepare for and respond to shared challenges.
SANDAG has developed a variety of adaptation planning resources and tools that help local jurisdictions and regional partners assess climate risks, identify adaptation actions, and build resilience. The resources below provide guidance, tools, and planning support for adaptation planning throughout the San Diego region.
Regional Resilience Framework
The Regional Resilience Framework provides a consistent approach to climate adaptation planning. The framework provides step-by-step guidance, planning tools, and resources that help local jurisdictions evaluate vulnerabilities, identify adaptation strategies, and integrate resilience into local planning efforts. The framework builds on the California Adaptation Planning Guide and adaptation planning resources developed through SANDAG’s Holistic Implementation of Adaptation and Transportation Resilience Strategies (HIATRS) project.
Regional resilience planning tools accompanying the framework include:
- Project Checklist: Helps jurisdictions evaluate climate impacts to infrastructure projects during the project planning phase
- Adaptation Pathways: Demonstrates how jurisdictions can prioritize and sequence adaptation planning and implementation actions
- Adaptation Metrics: Offers a template for jurisdictions to track progress and measure success of adaptation planning efforts
Holistic Adaptation Planning
SANDAG developed the HIATRS project in December 2021 to help local jurisdictions move from climate planning to implementation. The project produced several resources that help local planning staff and decision-makers evaluate, prioritize, and implement climate adaptation strategies.
HIATRS resources include:
- Prioritization Tool and Guidebook: Provides a structured approach for evaluating and prioritizing adaptation and transportation resilience strategies
- Equity-First Approach to Climate Adaptation Guidance: Offers guidance for incorporating equity considerations into adaptation planning and implementation to help ensure benefits are shared across communities
- Economic Guidance for Climate Adaptation: Helps local jurisdictions evaluate the costs, benefits, and economic impacts of adaptation strategies
Military Installation Resilience
SANDAG and Navy Region Southwest worked together with regional partners to assess and address climate change impacts that could affect the resiliency of local naval installations and the transportation infrastructure that supports military operations. With support from grants awarded by the Department of Defense Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation, SANDAG identified three major transportation corridors that are most vulnerable to climate impacts and are of high strategic importance for the Navy:
- SR 75 and SR 282 in the cities of San Diego and Coronado
- Harbor Drive in the City of San Diego
- Pacific Coast Highway in the City of San Diego
The project also recommended specific climate adaptation actions and proposed mitigation strategies and infrastructure improvements.
