The limited time available for this research made it necessary to confine the case study to two
counties and to plan contents. However, to gain a better understanding of local mitigation
planning efforts, it might be interesting to extend the case studies. A possibility for future
research is to increase the number of cities and counties included in the case studies in order to
gather enough plans for statistical analyses. In this study, the sample was too small to obtain
any significant results. It would be interesting to know if factors such as population or median
income are indicators for plan quality. Another possibility is to compare more counties with
each other. If counties and cities from various states were included, it would be possible to find
out what the influence of state planning mandates is on local plan quality. It is also possible to
evaluate not the plan contents, but the planning process. It would be interesting to find out to
what extent public participation and partnership models apply to the local mitigation planning
practice. If more knowledge on the exact factors that determine the quality of local natural
hazard mitigation planning was available, more specific policies could be developed in order to
assist local governments to truly minimize natural hazard risks in their community.
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