Climate adaptation strategies for active transportation: Barriers and facilitators in US cities

Despite efforts to mitigate climate change by promoting active travel, limited research has focused on climate adaptation for active transportation (CAAT) initiatives. To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative study based on interviews with 30 planning professionals to uncover what CAAT projects U.S. cities are implementing, their barriers, and their facilitators. We found that U.S. cities are increasingly implementing CAAT projects such as street trees and green stormwater infrastructure to address threats like extreme heat and pluvial flooding. Importantly, CAAT projects require collaborations between city departments (e.g., transportation and forestry). We also identified a complex network of barriers and facilitators shaping CAAT project implementation. Funding, politics, laws, and cross-department collaborations can be barriers and facilitators, and supportive (or unsupportive) politics and laws are strongly connected. Additionally, underserved communities face unique barriers to implementing CAAT projects, but recent facilitators such as dedicated funding have contributed to equitable investment.