Urban land area is projected to nearly triple by 2050, and land use decisions often prioritize short-term development and incentivize sprawl over long-term resilience and compact development—driving some communities closer to climate hazards, and in some cases, forcing relocation. Planners today confront the interacting challenges of adapting to climate change, providing affordable and secure housing, and expanding economic inclusion. Increasingly, solutions to the climate crisis involve deciding how to use limited land resources.
Fragmented decision-making concerning how to use limited land creates near-term trade-offs and conflicts and can lead to unintended consequences that jeopardize human health and well-being, natural habitat, biodiversity, and the integrity of natural carbon sinks. Through the urban sustainability program, the Lincoln Institute works to make land policy decisions at the local, metropolitan, and regional scales, to be more evidence- and community-informed. The goal of our work is to build resilient environments, societies, and economies by helping local leaders anticipate climate-related impacts and use land policy to adapt.
We oversee three main projects, using research and knowledge creation, peer learning and proof-of-concept work, policy engagement and capacity building, and community-engaged research and network building: Climate Mobility and Displacement, Climate Resilient Land Use, and Financing Climate Action.
Planning in a Polycrisis
This report and accompanying Policy Brief outline strategies for integrating equity into climate and housing planning in five North American cities: Boston, Denver, Portland, Vancouver, and Washington, DC. Drawing on interviews with planners, it addresses how local governments navigate the intersecting crises of climate change, housing affordability, and economic inequality.
Climate Mobility and Displacement
This project addresses how to understand and plan for climate-induced population movement. This includes treating climate migration as a one-time event, siloed planning of housing and climate policy, and the false distinction between “sending” and “receiving” communities.
Climate Resilient Land Use
Our work on Climate Resilient Land Use documents how and where cities are growing and which policy tools are most effective in different contexts; it also builds the local capacity needed to turn good ideas into lasting change. Here you’ll find research, policy recommendations, and practical resources for planners and communities working to build decarbonized places that foster environmental, economic, and social resilience.
Financing Climate Action
We are researching ways to fund urgent climate investments through land-based financing tools, documenting and disseminating best practices, and working with local partners to provide technical assistance to support on-the-ground implementation.
