The influence of urban development dynamics on community resilience practice in New York City after Superstorm Sandy: Experiences from the Lower East Side and the Rockaways

Abstract

A B S T R A C TWhile (urban) resilience has become an increasingly popular concept, especially in the areas of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA), it is often still used as an abstract metaphor, with much debate centered on definitions, differences in approaches, and epistemological considerations. Empirical studies examining how community-based organizations (CBOs) "practice" resilience on the ground and what enables these CBOs to organize and mobilize around resilience are lacking. Moreover, in the growing context of competitive and entrepreneurial urbanism and conflicting priorities about urban (re)development, it is unclear how urban development dynamics influence communitybased resilience actions. Through empirical research conducted on the Lower East Side, a gentrifying neighborhood in Manhattan, and in Rockaway, a socio-spatially isolated neighborhood in Queens, we investigate community organizing of low-income residents for (climate) resilience in a post-disaster context. Results show that both the operationalization of resiliencehow resilience is "practiced"and the community capacity to organize for the improved resilience of low-income residents are strongly influenced by pre-existing urban development dynamics and civic infrastructurethe socio-spatial networks of community-based organizationsin each neighborhood. The Lower East Side, with its long history of community activism and awareness of gentrification threats, was better able to mobilize broadly and collectively around resilience needs while the more socio-spatially isolated neighborhoods on the Rockaway peninsula were more constrained.

Stakeholders’ Perspectives of Social Capital in Informing the Development of Neighborhood-Based Disaster Resilience Measurements

“…supplies (Feuer 2012;Hayward 2013); and planning for long-term disaster recovery through collective decision making and collective action (Adger 2003;Bolin and Stanford 2006;Graham et al 2016;Montgomery 2013;Nakagawa and Shaw 2004). Furthermore, social capital has been linked to the promotion of other forms of capital within the context of natural hazard events, such as cultivating leadership skills (human capital; , enhancing the financial wellbeing of individuals and households (financial capital; Shimada 2014), improving community governance and planning coordination (political capital; Aldrich 2012a), and protecting ecological services (natural capital; Adger et al 2005).…”

“…The previous section highlights that bridging and linking social capital resources can be enhanced and effectively activated through coordinated leadership and collective efforts. Measuring neighborhood-based governance can be achieved through assessing residents' perspectives on the effectiveness of local leaders (Paton 2007a), and the evaluation of civic infrastructure-the networks of CBOs and groups-can serve as proxies for leadership capabilities (Graham et al 2016). In particular, focus group data illustrate that collective efforts are frequently facilitated by formal and informal community groups.…”

Equity in sustainable development: Community responses to environmental gentrification

“…Graham, Debucquoy, and Anguelovski (2016) conducted a comparative study of the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City with the Rockaways neighborhood in Queens. Both neighborhoods received investments to rebuild after damage caused by storm surges from superstorm Sandy.…”

Nature-based solutions in hiding: goslings and greening in the still-industrial city

“…The environmental activists work closely with industrial advocacy organizations as well as landscape architects and other professionals to create plans that aim to revitalize ecological functioning and generate more sustainable industrial activity in the same area (see Curran and Hamilton 2018 ). In the case of The Zurich Square park described above, it took a combination of long-standing demands for green space by local residents, mayoral support, and technical skills from a local Horticulture University to achieve a unique NBS in that industrial area (Naturvation 2017 ; see also Goodling 2019 ; Graham et al 2016 ; Pearsall and Anguelovski 2016 for other examples). These environmental successes are the results of deep grassroots organizing and political engagement that take years to build.…”