Metropolitics

We Have Been Here Before: Crisis, Response, and the Stasis of Urban Policy

Robert W. Lake — 2021-06-29T05:00:00Z

The disruptions produced by the global pandemic have spawned predictions of sweeping change that are unlikely to materialize. An example from a century ago explains why, and what we can do about it.
The front-page headline in the New York Times on May 6, 2021, optimistically announced a turning point in the ravages of the Covid‑19 pandemic in the United States. “Americans have entered a new, hopeful phase of the pandemic,” the Times reported, ushering in a “newfound optimism […] buoyed by a

- Essays / crisis, coronavirus, Covid-19, pandemic, history, urban policy, war, social change

Planning for the Unimaginable: Puerto Rico and Strategies for Climate-Change Adaptation

Cecelia Walsh-Russo — 2018-05-01T05:00:00Z

The damage from the two hurricanes that struck Puerto Rico was multiplied by US austerity plans that deprived the island of resources to implement its carefully crafted climate plans. Public debt and calls for privatization are further hampering Puerto Rico's recovery. Repairing damaged housing, utilities, and creating greater resilience requires major investment and community-based adaptation initiatives.
---- Series: Climate Change and Social Change During late September 2017, the island of

- From the Field / catastrophe, disaster, environment, inequalities, United States, hurricane, climate change, climate action plans, austerity, environmental justice, climate justice, storm recovery, social change, Puerto Rico, weather

The Territorial and Environmental Impacts of Climate Change in Germany

Dennis Becker & Stefan Greiving & Viola Schulze Dieckhoff & Thorsten Wiechmann — 2018-04-25T05:10:00Z

In Germany, the territorial and environmental impacts of climate change intersect in key ways with the nation's varied demography. In this pair of papers, researchers at TU Dortmund University urge spatial planners to synchronize their approaches to climate and demographic shifts at the city and regional levels.
---- Series: Climate Change and Social Change
A nationwide analysis by Dennis Becker and Stefan Greiving shows that population is growing in regions that are experiencing warming,

- From the Field / urban planning, Germany, resilience, climate change, sustainable urban planning, population, demographics, demography, capacity building, social change, demographic change, spatial planning, adaptation, adaptive capacity

Overcoming Climate Impacts Through Adaptive Capacity Building: Two Extreme Cases from Germany

Viola Schulze Dieckhoff & Thorsten Wiechmann — 2018-04-25T05:05:00Z

Climate change and demographic change interact. Impacts of climate change do not solely result from climate variability. Diverse settlement structures and a dynamic population development lead to heterogeneous, small-scale sensitivities in the face of climate variability and extreme events.
---- Series: Climate Change and Social Change Who is sensitive to these changes, at what time, and in which locations become central questions of spatial planning, with a view to fostering sustainable

Climate and Demographic Change: The Need for an Integrative Approach to Spatial Planning in Germany

Dennis Becker & Stefan Greiving — 2018-04-25T05:00:00Z

Climate change and demographic change are two megatrends that are often discussed without regard for their complex interactions. A nationwide analysis in Germany shows that population is growing in regions that are experiencing warming, while populations are declining in regions that are becoming more arid and thus more subject to water shortages. In both types of regions, the population is aging. Demographic changes can have different impacts on climate change and vice versa.
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Insecure Lives Under Extreme Climate Conditions: Insights from a Fishing Hamlet in Tamil Nadu, India

Devendraraj Madhanagopal — 2018-04-17T05:00:00Z

In recent years, climate change–induced weather events have exacerbated poverty and insecurity in small fishing villages on the southeastern coastline of India. Author Devendraraj Madhanagopal documents the difficult choices that vulnerable fishermen must make between safety and livelihood, and urges action.
---- Series: Climate Change and Social Change Rainwater and seawater surrounded the whole village, and we were disconnected from the external world for a few days.
[15 March 2016,

- From the Field / safety, poverty, India, climate change, vulnerability, insecurity, precarity, Tamil Nadu, fishing, social change