CLIMATE ADAPTATION DESIGN PRINCIPLES
The City will increasingly look for developers to consider climate change and incorporate best practices for mitigation. This document identifies recommended tools and best practices to consider in designing building sites and structures to be resilient to sea level rise, flooding, extreme heat, and groundwater inundation.
EXTREME HEAT
- Provide shade through trees, awnings, or canopies
- Use solar-reflective building materials
- Landscape rooftops and around buildings for cooling
- Design common outdoor areas with shade, seating, and other amenities
RESILIENT BUILDINGS
- Locate critical systems above the Design Flood Elevation (DFE)
- Wet or dry flood-proof below the DFE
- Resilient Transition Zone between sidewalk and entry
FLOODING
- Resiliency: design for sea level rise up to 6 feet
- Custom recommendations for each building type
- Use Low Impact Development (LID), aka Green Infrastructure strategies, to retain and filter stormwater
PURPOSE
why design for climate resilience?
Climate change will affect all aspects of life in Hawai‘i, from natural ecosystems to human health and the built environment. It is imperative to plan for it now. Many U.S. cities are doing so by adopting new regulations and design guidelines to make the built environment more resilient to Sea Level Rise (SLR) flooding, heat, gradual inundation, and other hazards. In developing this guidance, examples were consulted from New York, Boston, San Francisco, Miami, New Orleans, and other similar cities around the world to identify best practices applicable to Honolulu.
how is the city addressing resilience to climate change?
The City has committed to plan for and adapt to the effects of climate change through the establishment and actions of its Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency (CCSR) and the Honolulu Climate Change Commission.
As of 2018, Mayor’s Directive 18-02 requires all City agencies, departments, and consultants to City projects to consider climate change and sea level rise in all City plans, programs, and capital improvement projects, and to apply planning benchmarks assuming 3.2 to 6 feet of sea level rise by the end of this century. In 2019, the CCSR prepared the O‘ahu Resilience Strategy for the City with 44 actions to guide implementation. The CCSR is now preparing a Climate Action Plan to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
document sections:
RELATED DOCUMENTS
Climate Adaptation Design Principles for Urban Development – December 2020
Climate Adaptation Background Research – November 2020
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
A: The Climate Adaptation Design Principles are available as a PDF document under Related Documents. The document was designed for digital use, as it contains clickable links throughout, but it is also formatted for print on 8.5 by 11-inch letter-size paper.
A: The Climate Adaptation Design Principles document is primarily intended to help develop policy and regulations, which are in the early stages of development. However, these design principles can also be incorporated into development projects to help mitigate climate change impacts, such as sea level rise, thereby minimizing future impacts on property.
A: The Climate Ready Oahu Web Explorer indicates where sea level rise is projected by the end of the century. Sea level rise will occur incrementally over the years. This timeline is particularly important considering that a building’s lifespan typically lasts many decades.
A: The climate adaptation material on this page was developed with TOD in mind, as some TOD properties are projected to be severely impacted by climate change—in particular, sea level rise. There is also a larger, multi-departmental effort taking place to address these challenges. The Climate Adaptation Background Research document under Related Documents summarizes many of these efforts. Additional material is under the What Regulatory Changes are Anticipated and the Relevant Links & Resources sections of this page.
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