The Roles of Residents in Climate Adaptation: A systematic review in the case of the Netherlands

Abstract

Climate adaptation literature has hitherto devoted limited attention to the roles of residents. Yet their role is crucial in addressing non‐ or maladaptation, as their initiative or consent is often necessary to take adaptation measures in or around the house. To address this knowledge gap, this paper explores mainstream and additional roles for residents through a literature review. Mainstream roles are those roles that residents usually take, while additional roles are more specific and local in nature. The latter may, however, provide the seeds for wider change. To structure the results, we made a distinction between three forms of residents' commitment to adaptation: as (1) citizens falling under the jurisdiction of various governmental levels; (2) consumers (including home owners) in the market; and (3) civil society members/partners. While this is an established categorization in other domains of environmental governance, it has not yet been systematically applied to the adaptation domain. The paper's empirical focus regarding mainstream and additional roles is on the Dutch adaptation domains of flood risk management, stormwater management and dealing with heat stress. We found scope for additional roles for residents, especially as consumers in the market and civil society members. The findings are of significance for the global debate on residents' roles in climate adaptation and suggest that addressing all three forms of commitment may enhance the implementation of measures as well as their legitimacy, residents' awareness and societies' potential to innovate. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

From citizen participation to government participation: An exploration of the roles of local governments in community initiatives for climate change adaptation in the Netherlands

“…Citizens' initiatives in adaptation to heat are even more rare (Hegger et al, 2017), and the roles of local governments limited (Mees, Driessen, & Runhaar, 2015). Therefore, adaptation to heat and drought is left out of the analysis.…”

“…Nevertheless, empirical manifestations of this shift of responsibilities to citizens and other nonstate actors are still limited in adaptation (e.g., Klein et al, 2017;Klein et al, 2018;Mees, 2017;Mees et al, 2016). At the same time, empirical understandings of whether and to what extent government is moving towards such roles are lacking Hegger, Mees, Driessen, & Runhaar, 2017). At the same time, empirical understandings of whether and to what extent government is moving towards such roles are lacking Hegger, Mees, Driessen, & Runhaar, 2017).…”

“…Consequently, conceptual understandings of what "facilitating" and "enabling" roles for governments might entail in the adaptation domain are in an embryonic stage. At the same time, empirical understandings of whether and to what extent government is moving towards such roles are lacking Hegger, Mees, Driessen, & Runhaar, 2017). This hampers a thorough understanding of the challenges governments can face and how they can overcome these challenges, which in the worst case might lead to governments frustrating initiatives rather than facilitating them Wamsler, 2016).…”

The design of public participation: who participates, when and how? Insights in climate adaptation planning from the Netherlands

“…The effects of urban flooding can be reduced by enlarging the water storage and infiltration capacity of a neighborhood. The planning and implementation of such adaptation measures requires the participation of citizens (Hegger et al 2017). A substantive reason for this is that measures taken solely by local governments in public space might not be sufficient for the expected climatic changes and related impacts.…”

Climate Change: What Are the Implications of Worldview, Political Orientation, Values on Climate Belief and Engagement in the French Context?

“…This political sensitivity is itself influenced by socio-occupational status, world view and the main values held (Bréchon, 2014, Bréchon & Gonthier, 2017. This approach will be all the more central in this work that the literature review shows us that in Europe, and particularly in France, there is little research on the barriers and the driving forces that condition the commitment of the populations in the fight against CC according to their beliefs, values and or vision of the world unlike Anglo-Saxon countries (Blennow, Persson, Tomé, & Hanewinkel, 2012;Glaas, Neset, Kjellström, & Almås, 2015;Hegger, Mees, Driessen, & Runhaar, 2017;Brink & Wamster, 2018).…”