Do we have a climate for change insights about adaptation planning actions in coastal new england

1. Westfield State University
Department of Geography & Regional Planning
Ana Mesquita Emlinger, PhD
Dristi Neog, PhD
Do we Have a Climate for Change?
Insights about adaptation planning actions in
Coastal New England

2. 1. Relevance of the Study
2. Methodological Approach
3. Group work
4. Group presentation
5. Main findings
Outline

3. Why this research is relevant?
Marshfield, MA, south of Boston, during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Courtesy: Paul Halkiotis
Cities throughout the world face the challenge of preparing for the
impacts of a changing climate.
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4. Why this research is relevant?
Marshfield, MA, south of Boston, during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Courtesy: Paul Halkiotis
The nation as a whole - coastal communities in particular - need to start planning today
to cope with sea level rise + unprecedented tidal flooding - take swift and decisive action
to limit longer-term damage to our coasts (Union of Concerned Scientists 2014).
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5. 5
Change in population
of 25 most populous
Atlantic and Gulf
Coastline counties:
2000 to 2015
Growth in the Coast

6.  Qualitative - semi-structured interviews
(Phase 1) 2011 & 2014
 Quantitative –Phase 1 + scholarship
Web-survey
to quantify the factors that affect the most
the response to climate adaptation
planning at the community level (Phase 2)
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Methodological Approach

7.  Target: coastal cities and towns up to
150.000 inhabitants (226 contacts)
 121 valid responses - 57% response
rate (RR) overall
 MA: 77 – 76 – 63 (83%)
 RI: 20 – 20 – 16 (80%)
 CT: 36 – 36 – 17 (47%)
 Use of basic statistics for data analysis
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Web-survey in coastal New England
NH: 7 – 7 – 4 (57%)
STATE: Target Pop – Sample – Surveys Completed (RR)
ME: 108 – 87 – 40 (46%)

8.  Preferred/popular Actions
 Less preferred/less popular Actions
 Biggest Barriers
 Move forward
 Information/Guidance
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Main Questions

9. Group Work!

10. 10
Findings

11. 11
Challenges

12. 12
Popular Actions

13. 13
Less Popular Actions

14. 14
What’s needed to move forward

15. 15
What’s needed to move forward & Challenges

16. 16
Information and Guidance

17. 17

18. Based on the findings from web-survey conducted in 2015 with planners and city
officials in coastal NE, the answer is:
Yes, we do!
Do We Have a Climate for Change?

19. Current scholarship
little emphasis on explaining the steps communities tend to follow
Moving forward, we found necessary
to understand the actions taking place in the region
In this study we explored the initiatives communities have chosen as
part of their adaptation planning process.
We believe that this is not only a good contribution of this study to knowledge, but
also a source of motivation to practice. 19
Contribution to Knowledge

20. source of motivation to practice 20

21. Thank you!
DR. ANA MESQUITA EMLINGER
&
DR. DRISTI NEOG
WESTFIELD STATE UNIVERSITY
GEOGRAPHY & REGIONAL PLANNING DEPARTMENT