CLIMATE RESILIENCY

Adapt. Survive. Thrive.

Weston & Sampson’s climate resiliency services support creating designs that adapt, survive, and thrive both chronic and catastrophic changes in the natural environment. Since 1899, Weston & Sampson has been providing municipalities, public agencies, and private sector clients along the East Coast with cost-effective and innovative solutions to their infrastructure and environmental challenges.

Our climate resilience practice provides several interdependent services, including: Climate Modeling, Risk and Vulnerability Assessments, Planning, Design Guidelines, Public Engagement, Design and Adaptation, and Mitigation and Sustainability.

Weston & Sampson’s interdisciplinary team of engineers, scientists, climate specialists, architects, landscape architects, designers, and planners incorporate relevant climate models and data into the design of our infrastructure and facility projects. We work with our governmental (municipal and state) clients to study, plan, and implement resilient and cost-effective strategies for their infrastructure, buildings, and natural resources.

What is climate resiliency in practice

  • Model climate scenarios, assess risk, and develop plans and strategies
  • Design projects to adapt to new design criteria and manage uncertainty
  • Emphasize natural systems to mitigate climate impacts and create value

Our design approach

  • Evaluate current and future climate risk
  • Conduct a regulatory review
  • Establish basis of design for climate resilience
  • Propose actionable design recommendations

News & Highlights

A child walking on a trail surrounded by trees. Dorchester County Greenbelt Master Plan - By Kim Morganello, Lucas Hernandez and Rachel Cotter, RLA. Dorchester County, South Carolina, is home to diverse ecosystems, including swamps, blackwater rivers, bottomland hardwood forests, longleaf pine savannahs and tidal marshes. Residents and visitors can partake in outdoor recreational activities across the county’s vast park system, trails, waterways and forests. The county, however, has undergone significant growth and development in recent years, and has embraced the challenge of managing rapid urban growth while also trying to mitigate environmental damage and degradation.
Photo showing flodding street. Equity-Driven Climate Action: Connecticut’s Path to a Resilient, Net-Zero Future - Figure 1: The impacts of climate change, like this severe inland flooding from extreme precipitation, are impacting communities across the country (Weston & Sampson).

Contact Our Resiliency Experts to learn more about how we can assist your community

Contact Us Today


RMAT BETA TOOL
Statewide Climate Resilience Design Standards Tool

Weston & Sampson is proud to have served as the lead technical consultant for the Resilient MA Action Team (RMAT) in developing the Statewide Climate Resilience Design Standards Tool, which was recently released by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. This first-in-the-nation web-based beta tool makes preliminary climate resilience analyses broadly available to the public at no charge to inform “climate smart” capital planning and design.


MOAKLEY PARK Case Study APA 2021
courtesy of Stoss

Weston & Sampson is proud to support the City of Boston and lead consultant Stoss Landscape Urbanism with advancing climate resilience along the South Boston waterfront, and improving community opportunities at Moakley Park. This video, produced by Stoss, details the design process, and collaborative nature of the project. Julie Eaton Ernst, PE details the technical assessments and subsurface investigations that informed design considerations for resiliency improvements.

Charles River Watershed Flood Model

CHARLES RIVER WATERSHED FLOOD MODEL

Weston & Sampson worked with the Charles River Watershed Association, who, using grant funding from the Massachusetts MVP program, has developed and released the first ever comprehensive stormwater flood model for the Upper and Middle Charles River watershed. The model will aid in planning for mitigation of flooding caused by increased precipitation.

Learn more on the ESRI Story Maps

FEATURED PROJECTS

CLIMATE MODELING
  • Climate projections using global climate models (GCMs)
  • Coastal modeling using sea level rise (SLR) projections
  • Cumulative probability/risk analyses with climate projections
  • Estimating climate impacts to water quality
  • Estimating impacts of extreme precipitation and/or SLR on groundwater
  • Extreme precipitation analyses (H&H modeling)
  • Future & extreme wind analyses
  • Future drought analyses & impacts to water supply
  • Heat analyses (UHI modeling)
  • Visualization and analysis of climate projections
RISK & VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENTS
  • Climate projections using global climate models (GCMs)
  • Coastal modeling using sea level rise (SLR) projections
  • Cumulative probability/risk analyses with climate projections
  • Estimating climate impacts to water quality
  • Estimating impacts of extreme precipitation and/or SLR on groundwater
  • Extreme precipitation analyses (H&H modeling)
  • Future & extreme wind analyses
  • Future drought analyses & impacts to water supply
  • Heat analyses (UHI modeling)
  • Visualization and analysis of climate projections
PLANNING
  • AWIA emergency response plan updates
  • Capital improvement plans/asset management
  • Cost-benefit analyses (FEMA or otherwise)
  • Economic impact analyses (using economic models, such as IMPLAN)
  • Establishing alternative governance structures for implementing resilience
  • Financial capability analyses
  • Grant applications assistance from local, state, regional, and federal sources
  • Hazard mitigation planning
  • Implementation roadmaps using climate projections/ tipping points
  • Integrating resilience and sustainability into master plans
  • Local food systems analysis
  • Municipal vulnerability preparedness (MVP) planning
  • Open space planning
  • Resilience funding/financing analyses
  • Zoning/by-laws/regulations update recommendations
DESIGN GUIDELINES
  • Applying existing design guidelines credits (WEDG, LEED, ENVISION, STARS, etc.)
  • Case study development
  • Climate adjustments/design standards recommendations
  • Developing evaluation criteria
  • Discipline-specific considerations
  • Existing best practices/literature review
  • Flexible adaptation pathways considerations
  • Flowchart or process graphics development
  • Forms or templates development
  • O&M considerations
  • Policy recommendations
  • Regional coordination considerations
  • Site suitability considerations
  • Translating climate projections into design criteria
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
  • Commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and access
  • Data visualization and fact sheets
  • Dynamic multimedia formats including videos, social media, mapping, and webpage content
  • Focus groups and interviews
  • Hosting site walks/tours
  • Identifying stakeholders and building partnerships
  • In-person workshops and open houses
  • Interactive engagement games and coloring pages
  • Online and in-person polling and surveys
  • Print media
  • Synthesizing stakeholder feedback
  • Translation, interpretation, and captioning support
  • Virtual workshops, open houses, webinars, and related technical support
DESIGN & ADAPTATION
  • Stormwater and green infrastructure strategies
  • Conceptual adaptation strategies - cost estimation
  • Conceptual adaptation strategies - visualization
  • Deployable flood barriers evaluation
  • Ecological restoration
  • FEMA levee certification compliance evaluation
  • Flood protection strategies (inland or coastal)
  • Invasive species management
  • Life cycle/adaptability assessment
  • Living shoreline and climate migration design
  • Permitting matrix and timelines
  • Resilient building strategies
  • Resilient infrastructure strategies
  • Resilient natural resource strategies
  • Resilient parks/open space strategies

On behalf of the entire team at the Town of Shelburne, I want to extend our deep gratitude for your exceptional professionalism and guidance during the MVP Planning process. You kept the project on target and on time, helping us achieve our audacious goal of becoming a Commonwealth MVP-designated community and able to apply for an action grant in less than a year.  You have been responsive to our needs and questions, and your experience has shown in every detail...I know we have a lot ahead of us, and it helps to have an outstanding blueprint we can follow to create a ResilientShelburne. You folks rock!

- Tricia Yacovone-Biagi, MS