Assessing Resilience to Climate Change in US Cities

Abstract

In the face of uncertainties associated with climate change, building adaptive capacity and resilience at the community level emerges as an essential and timely element of local planning. However, key social factors that facilitate the effective building and maintenance of urban resilience are poorly understood. Two groups of US cities differing markedly in their commitment to climate change are contrasted with respect to their planning approaches and actions related to mitigation and adaptation strategies, and also in relation to social features that are believed to enhance adaptive capacity and resilience to climate change. The first group manifests a strong commitment to climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the second group has demonstrated little or no such commitment. These cities are compared with respect to several noteworthy social features, including level of social capital, degree of unconventional thought, and level of cultural diversity. These characteristics are postulated to contribute to the adaptive capacity of communities for dealing with the impacts of climate change. The aim is to determine to what extent there is a relationship between social/cultural structures and urban commitment and planning for climate change that could discriminate between climate change resilient and nonresilient urban areas.

We are not all the same!: Comparative climate change vulnerabilities among fishers in Old Harbour Bay, Jamaica

“…Access to social capital, which in this study is related to whether a fisher is employed part-time or full-time and their role in the fishing industry, also supports what is reported by other studies, that is, access to social capital reduces vulnerability (Adger, 2003;Bailey, 2010;Saavedra et al, 2012). Social capital includes relationships among people and groups, exchange of knowledge and resources, and the levels of mutual trust that exists between groups (Moser et al, 2008;Saavedra et al, 2012).…”

“…Social capital includes relationships among people and groups, exchange of knowledge and resources, and the levels of mutual trust that exists between groups (Moser et al, 2008;Saavedra et al, 2012). Ibarraran et al (2009) indicates that having limited social networks and connections has consistently been reported as one of the key characteristics of vulnerable groups.…”

Social Capital and Longitudinal Change in Sustainability Plans and Policies: U.S. Cities from 2000 to 2010

“…Saha has suggested that political culture should be considered as a source of sustainability policy [26], while Sharp, Daley and Lynch focus on the importance of civic capacity [6]. Saavedra et al also focused on the local culture and identified the importance of the presence of a risk-taking attitude [7]. Among important sources of sustainability adoption, Daley et al [27] and Hawkins and Wang [28] included political institutions, organized interests and civic capacity, the severity of the need or policy and the extent of participation in sustainability and climate protection networks.…”

“…(7). Education in the form of the percentage with a bachelor education as reported in the 2000 census, because formal education levels are one indicator of human capital available to strengthen communities [82].…”

“…In the wake of several decades of innovative work [1], recent researchers continue to examine the adoption of sustainability initiatives at the local government level [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Nonetheless, little is known about longitudinal change in the presence of sustainability initiatives within the same cities.…”