Many communities and organizations are concerned about climate change adaptation and mitigation and sustainable development. However, there have been widespread implementation gaps. While there are a variety of reasons for these gaps, the lack of locally relevant and credible information is a notable challenge for managers, planners and citizens. Planners therefore require tools or methods that allow them to assess risks associated with future climate conditions, to engage citizens in identifying risks and to incorporate these considerations into current and ongoing planning processes.

As a key dimension of our community planning work, SSG has been developing open source models that allow municipalities to evaluate the impacts of land use plans on GHG emissions, economic development, risk from extreme weather events and public health outcomes. The models can be used simultaneously to optimize land use decisions that will:

• Minimize risk from climate change to the built environment;
• Improve health outcomes related to improved fitness levels such reduced obesity, asthma and heart disease; and
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions resulting from transportation and building-related energy consumption.