Self and Place Constructs in Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments: Gaps and Recommendations

Abstract

In the United States, climate change vulnerability assessments are usually conceived as objectified exercises, based on theoretical orientations such as rational choice or systems theory. They adopt sectorial or population-level frames of reference and are operationalized by means of aggregating mathematical models, geospatial analytical platforms, and advanced visualization tools. While vulnerability assessments are intended to inform decision making, they often lack process-based mechanisms that enable them to be framed in terms of localized knowledge and perspectives. This is a weakness because occupant attitudes regarding places can spark unyieldingly negative reactions to expert-generated, objectivist vulnerability assessment processes and their outputs. In this paper, I attempt to demonstrate the salience of self and place constructs and explore the implications of their tendency to block serious reflection about the nature of potential vulnerabilities and risk management interventions. If acknowledged and addressed in a manner that is empathetic and context sensitive, it may be possible to channel these perspectives to elevate and deepen dialog about climate change and help to identify and compile circumstantially appropriate menus of adaptation policy interventions.

Gendered Perspectives on Climate Change Adaptation: A Quest for Social Sustainability in Badlagaree Village, Bangladesh

“…Many of these vulnerabilities are pre-existing and while not specifically caused by drought are nonetheless being magnified by its environmental impacts due to embedded social and cultural practices, reflecting arguments that context matters in how gendered vulnerabilities are constructed and reproduced [31]. Here, social constructions of self and place [30,32] are not only significant in developing gendered climate vulnerabilities but also adaptation responses. In particular, the mutually constituted 'gendered subjectivities' of drought do reflect both embedded sociocultural determinants and their interaction with the 'spatiality and materiality' of water resources [31], while additionally supporting wider feminist political ecology arguments on the factors influencing gender relations in water management [42].…”

“…They can also reflect cultural factors: not only does climate change physically threaten the 'cultural dimensions of lives and livelihoods that include the material and lived aspects of culture, identity, community cohesion and sense of place', culture also determines societal adaptation responses [29]. Mutually constituted sociocultural constructions of self and place regarding climate vulnerabilities have consequently been researched in multiple contexts [30]. These arguments, in addition, link to feminist political ecology research showing that 'gendered subjectivities' in water management in Bangladesh are not only socially constructed through pre-existing norms and rights but also reflect the physical characteristics or 'spatiality and materiality' of the water environment [31].…”

Climate Adaptation at the Local Scale: Using Federal Climate Adaptation Policy Regimes to Enhance Climate Services

“…As shown in Figure 1, all but 3 of the 17 case localities were impelled to some extent by recent stakeholder experience-sometimes repeatedwith high-impact weather and climate events. Owing to this experience, decision makers and stakeholders may have been unusually motivated to act, adopting mental models animated by regulatory pragmatism and a perceived need to avoid known, experiential threats rather than the calculated output of rationalized, expert-produced, scenario-driven, and risk-optimized projections of future conditions [53].…”

Slowing Down Climate Services: Climate Change as a Matter of Concern

“…Slow science asks for a more reflective and deliberative approach to scientific research, to engage in dialogue with the public and to develop a sense for the geo-social constitution of the respective locations. Climate change always happens somewhere, in some place, and there is a difference between results gained from a model or a set of data and the actual changes caused by climate in the real world [5].…”