The City of Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability (OOS) works with partners around the city to improve quality of life in all Philadelphia neighborhoods through addressing environmental justice, reducing the city’s carbon emissions, and preparing Philadelphia for a hotter and wetter future.
This project is focused on floodplain management policy and the economic impact of floodplain regulations. To strengthen proposals for more stringent policies, OOS would like to better understand the burden stricter policies would have on the commercial/development sector, as well as the costs saved by the City and Philadelphia residents. Much of this analysis will be desktop research of case studies across relevant jurisdictions.
Deliverables for this project include a report and executive memo which outline the challenges and benefits of bolstering Philadelphia’s floodplain regulations. Analysis should include regulation scenarios of no action, moderate action, and greatest action based on review of other jurisdictions’ policies. These scenarios will then be applied to damages of past storms (Hurricane Ida, Tropical Storm Isaias) and development trends in Philadelphia from the last decade.
