By 2050, according to c40 cities, 1.6 billion people living in more than 970 cities will be regularly exposed to extreme high temperatures; 800 million people living in 570 cities will be vulnerable to sea-level rise and coastal flooding; and the power supply to 470 million people, in over 230 cities, will be vulnerable to sea-level rise. Given these and similarly urgent challenges facing cities over the next two decades, CFAR empowers the study and improvement of climate adaptation strategies in coastal cities near to home in the Gulf and around the world. Major challenges of concern include the social impacts of urban heat islanding, enhanced storms and rainfall, drought, sea level rise and subsidence, water and food security, along with the social dimensions of related policy interventions, such as managed retreat.
Relevant publications:
Boyer, “Infrastructural Citizenship and Geosolidarity” (American Ethnologist, 2024)
Howe and Boyer, “Sister Cities for the Anthropocene” (Nature: Cities, 2024)
Elliott, James R. and Zheye Wang. 2023. “Managed Retreat: A Nationwide Study of the Local, Racially Segmented Resettlement of Homeowners from Rising Flood Risks.” Environmental Research Letters 18(6): 06-4050. Available online.
Elliott, James R., Kevin Loughran, and Phylicia Lee Brown.* 2023. “Divergent Residential Pathways from Flood-Prone Areas: How Neighborhood Inequalities Are Shaping Urban Climate Adaptation.” Social Problems 70(4): 869-892. Available online.
Dueñas-Osorio, Leonardo, Devika Subramanian, Robert M Stein. 2018. “This Way Out.” Scientific American. Available online.