Case Study Date: 2019; 2021
Tampa is a coastal city on the Gulf Coast. Its geographic location makes it prone to tropical storms, which are widely viewed to be increasingly damaging to Tampa due to the population growth, coastal development, and rising sea level there.
Summary of Findings
Tampa’s network of plan generally supports the reduction of vulnerability to flooding. It prioritizes the areas with a lesser degree of physical vulnerability. The equity-policy portion of the network similarly supports vulnerability reduction but by a smaller degree. It focuses on the socially less vulnerable areas.
Plans Evaluated
- Imagine 2040 City of Tampa Comprehensive Plan
- Hillsborough County Local Mitigation Strategy
- Consolidated Plan (FY 2013–2017)
- Consolidated Hillsborough River Master Plan
- The Tampa Center City Plan
- Downtown Tampa Transportation Vision
- Hillsborough Long Range Transportation Plan
- Ybor City Vision Plan [evaluated only in the PIRS analysis concerning equity policies]
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city on the Gulf Coast in Florida. It is bordered by the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. The city is nearly always exposed to tropical storm in hurricane season, but rarely experiences landfill. However, due to population growth, coastal development, and rising sea level, the city is widely regarded as being highly vulnerable to storms.
Findings of the Overall Network of Plans:
Tampa’s network of plans has a mean policy score of 17.35, which indicates that the network, overall, reduces vulnerability to flooding by a significant degree compared to other communities being investigated in the same study (Asbury Park, NJ; Fort Lauderdale, FL; League City, TX; Washington, NC). Tampa’s network of plans is robust in vulnerability reduction since it includes policies across the network to minimize development in high-hazard areas and protect the environment through development restrictions, land acquisition, and density transfer provisions. It should be noted, however, that Tampa’s plan network is not organized under an overarching policy framework. Instead, Tampa’s plans cover a wide range of individual vulnerability reduction policies. Also, the Downtown Tampa Transportation Vision and the Tampa City Vision Plan, which cover a single downtown district, both have negative scores (-1.00, -3.00). The negative scores reveal their emphasis on increasing development in the floodplain. Additionally, Tampa’s network of plan focuses on the districts with a lesser degree of physical vulnerability. It is indicated by the negative Pearson’s r correlation (-0.12) between a district’s physical vulnerability and the summed policy scores it receives.
When considering only equity policies, Tampa’s plan network still has a positive mean policy score, but its magnitude is not significant when compared with the other five cities. It indicates that the equity-policy portion of the plan network reduces the vulnerability to flooding in Tampa, but it does so moderately. Moreover, it fails to target the more socially vulnerable districts. It is revealed by the fact that the Pearson’s r correlation is -0.17 for the hundred-year floodplain and -0.04 for the projected sea level rise areas.
References
Berke, P. R., Malecha, M. L., Yu, S., Lee, J., & Masterson, J. H. (2019a). Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard: Evaluating Networks of Plans in Six US Coastal Cities. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 62(5), 901-920. https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2018.1453354
Berke, P. R., Yu, S., Malecha, M. L., & Cooper, J. (2019b). Plans that Disrupt Development: Equity Policies and Social Vulnerability in Six Coastal Cities. Journal of Planning Education and Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X19861144
Yu, S., Malecha, M. L., & Berke, P. R. (2021). Examining Factors Influencing Plan Integration for Community Resilience in Six US Coastal Cities Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling. Landscape and Urban Planning, 215, 104224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104224
