Community-preferred flooding and air quality strategies
Why Now?
Southeast Texas community members have identified flooding and air quality as two critical challenges, and past research has found that strategies to address risks such as these are more useful and successful if community members have a meaningful role in helping to identify and design strategies. In response, the SETx-UIFL project staff worked with community members to identify areas of high risk from flooding and air pollution and then jointly identified promising strategies to address risks.
Who Was Involved?
To gather community member input, the research team used a survey and structured activities including opportunities to share input through written, visual, and small and large group discussions. Community members identified a pilot site in Port Arthur and one in Beaumont, along with the entire five county Southeast Texas region. For one of the activities, the research team designed and shared a deck of cards that provided information about 20 different potential strategies. Community members then prioritized these strategies for the two sites and the larger region. Community members also chose the pilot sites for the project by identifying potential locations on a map, sharing their knowledge of the sites in discussion and through a survey, and using technical data (e.g., flood risk, air quality information, information about community risk related to income levels and other demographic information). Community members also identified potential stakeholders for strategy implementation as well as possible obstacles.
What We Did
The SETx-UIFL research team used a “Task Force” model of community member participation, alongside surveys and activities, to understand residents’ preferences for different strategies to address flooding and air pollution. The Task Force model, facilitated by Texas Target Communities, convenes 8-12 members who represent larger communities from the project area; this size allows for participation from a diversity of groups across a larger region while remaining small enough for discussion, collaboration, and trust-building. A “Technical Task Force” of 8-12 environmental professionals from local government, industry, and the nonprofit sector was created, along with a “Community Organization Leaders Task Force” of 8-12 community-based organization representatives.
Findings
Community members warmly described their community as caring and connected, with a strong economy and a vibrant ecosystem. Community members’ input reflected the complexity of challenges: • Refineries that contribute jobs but also pollution; • the need for physical infrastructure but also “green strategies,” educational outreach, and communication; • The desire for residents to stay in the community, despite concerns about health Impacts, housing quality, and flooding; and • Nature perceived as a refuge but also as a source of risk. At the regional scale, community members who provided input in surveys and in the focus group jointly prioritized coastal wetland restoration, river floodplain restoration, and park creation as strategies to address flooding; survey respondents also shared support for seawalls and constructed stormwater wetlands. For the Beaumont pilot site location, community members who provided input in surveys and in the focus group jointly prioritized bioretention/curb cut systems and well as rainwater systems (e.g., rainwater harvesting and disconnected downspouts). Survey respondents also shared support for swales and permeable pavement; focus group participants also identified Corsi-Rosenthal boxes for indoor air filtration, community and urban forestry, air quality buffers, and constructed stormwater wetlands as important strategies. For the Port Arthur pilot site, community members prioritized bioretention systems, air quality buffers, and community and urban forestry. In addition, survey respondents identified swales, culverts, and green roofs/walls as important strategies, and focus group participants shared support for Corsi-Rosenthal boxes for indoor air filtration, rainwater systems, and constructed stormwater wetlands. Please see the Flooding and Air Quality Strategies Card Deck for more information about each strategy.
More About SETx-UIFL
The Southeast Texas Urban Integrated Field Lab (SETx-UIFL) is one of four projects funded in 2022 by the U.S. Department of Energy to study how climate, environment, and urban changes affect cities. A team of over 80 researchers from UT, Lamar University, Texas A&M, Prairie View A&M, Oak Ridge National Lab, and Los Alamos National Lab has collected data and conducted modeling across hazards including flooding, hurricanes, heat stress, and air quality. Our Why: Southeast Texas faces numerous hazards, yet smaller communities like this one have often felt forgotten compared to larger cities. The SETx-UIFL was designed to explore the complex dynamics of disaster vulnerability for this economically and culturally vibrant region. We believe Southeast Texas is a bellwether for the entire Gulf Coast, and an exemplar for strategies that protect people and places. We hope this effort supports your path toward lasting resilience.
