The City of Cincinnati released a plan earlier this year to accommodate predicted rapid growth over the next few decades, largely resulting from climate migration.

The city’s Climate Migration Readiness Plan lays out a framework for the metro region to absorb as many as 525,000 newcomers by 2050. That figure includes possible climate migrants as well as migration for other reasons.

City planning experts praised the plan to address what could be a spirited competition for Americans displaced by increasingly common catastrophic weather events including floods, wildfires, and hurricanes.

The strategy features a zoning overhaul that makes it much easier to build multifamily housing in a city that was, until recently, zoned mostly for single-family homes.

In addition, the city will construct a solar array on the site of a former landfill and start a new rapid bus transit system in 2027. If climate migration fails to impact the city, officials say current residents will benefit from the plan, especially those who have already been dealing with heat islands, parks in disrepair, and other vulnerabilities.