Coping With Floods: The Land Use Management Paradox

Abstract
This paper examines the performance of land use management programs in protecting flood plains from urban encroachment and protecting future urban development from flood damage. A land use management paradox is illustrated: factors which stimulate the adoption of flood plain land use management programs also stimulate encroachment on the hazard area, which in turn limits program effectiveness. Nevertheless, it is shown that if local conditions—particularly the extent of existing flood plain development and relative availability of hazard-free sites for future growth—are considered in selecting land use management measures, effective programs can be devised. The implications of these findings for state and federal policy in flood-hazard management are also discussed.
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