A team of undergraduate students led by co-PI Dr. Geoffrey Habron at Furman University conducted research with 13 Special Emphasis Neighborhoods (SEN) to identify extreme weather risks and concerns. Results identified urban heat, health disparities, gaps in workforce development, and a lack of tree canopy as leading community concerns.  This information can help inform local mitigation and adaptation strategies.

TreesUpstate, a Greenville based non-profit organization, requested support in expanding this work to Spartanburg, SC, as the City of Spartanburg recently published a Comprehensive Plan outlining a growth and conservation framework. Students worked closely with TreesUpstate to identify neighborhoods of interest to inform tree planting efforts to impartially address urban heat islands. 

The Carolinas CAP team is also conducting focus groups with Spanish-speaking communities to understand how residents across environmental, geographical, economic and political power boundaries across Greenville County conceptualize environmental change, equity, and health in their communities. Examining extreme weather and resilience priorities across jurisdictional boundaries will allow different  local stakeholders to find common ground and work towards mutual benefit.

Fountain Inn, a town in Greenville County,  solicited the support of the Carolinas CAP team in the process of updating their comprehensive plan. The Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities at Furman University, which is a collaborating institution of the Carolinas CAP team, produced maps showing the city's temperatures, tree canopy, and impervious surfaces, which can help inform future zoning and development.  The INNvision Comprehensive Plan was passed on February 8, 2024 and features never before considered resiliency elements such as the map of surface temperatures developed by the Shi Institute.

The Carolinas CAP team will be working to identify opportunities to partner with other towns and cities throughout Greenville County to integrate stakeholder-focused resiliency elements into their local comprehensive plans.

According to the Comprehensive Planning Enabling Act (SC Code Section 6-29-510), municipalities are now required to address resilience elements. The South Carolina Office of Resilience (SCOR) defines resilience as ”the ability of communities, economies, and ecosystems within South Carolina to anticipate, absorb, recover, and thrive when presented with environmental change and natural hazards”.

As cities and towns are working on updating their comprehensive plans, the CAP team will be developing methods of supporting local governments through this process. The product of the collaboration between the Shi Institute and the city of Fountain Inn can serve as a model for including community-focused resilience elements in local planning across the state.