The Consequences of Public Investments Following Coastal Climate Disasters

A public lecture hosted by the University of Auckland Faculty of Arts

Title: Perverse Adaptation: The consequences of public investments following coastal climate disasters

Event details

When: Tuesday 15 October

Location: : Library basement lecture theatre B15 - 109 -B15, 5 Alfred Street, Auckland CBD

T ime: : 5pm–6.15pm, followed by refreshments.

Lecture Description:

Governments provide the leading and largest responses to climate-change-related coastal disasters. They decide whether to reinvest and rebuild, to what degree, and in what ways. Public post-disaster investment shapes the future of post-disaster locales. In this presentation I problematize public investment in vulnerable ecological zones and connect states’ choices to the long-term climate adaptation trajectories of urban coastal zones. States use four strategies: a “do nothing” approach, managed retreat, accommodation with limited structural mitigation, and massive coastal reconstruction. Based on an analysis of the New York City area following Superstorm Sandy, I outline the consequences of each strategy and their implications for coastal resilience in climate vulnerable locales around the globe. States’ climate disaster responses can lead to “perverse adaptation,” which increases population densities in climate vulnerable locations. Post-disaster public investment for massive coastal reconstruction commits the state to further investments over time, requiring larger shares of total public resources. The conclusions raise questions regarding the use of public funds and the necessary conditions to make sound climate adaptation investments.

Kenneth A. Gould, PhD

Dr. Gould is professor of sociology and urban sustainability at the City University of New York - Brooklyn College, and professor of sociology and earth and environmental sciences at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Gould’s work focuses on the political economy of environment, technology, and development. He is best known for his contributions to the Treadmill of Production model of socioenvironmental dynamics. His research examines power and inequality in urban sustainability policy, the role of scientific research and development investments in shaping socioenvironmental problems, and the relationship between ecotourism and extractivism in the Caribbean and Latin America. His books include Environment and Society: The Enduring Conflict (1994), Local Environmental Struggles (1996), The Treadmill of Production (2008), and Green Gentrification: Urban Sustainability and the Struggle for Environmental Justice (2017). Gould’s recent articles have appeared in Environmental Science and Technology, Nature Ecology & Evolution, Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, and Environmental Sociology. His current research focuses on the social and environmental implications of coastal climate resilience policies in urban contexts. He is the recipient of the Frederick H. Buttel Distinguished Contribution Award of the Environmental Sociology section of the American Sociological Association and is former Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of Brooklyn College.