Course Syllabus

Course Description

The purpose of this seminar is to critically examine emerging climate adaptation and disaster
recovery strategies in a global context. It places an emphasis on the political and economic
dimensions of these strategies. It considers the role of planners, broadly defined, public
institutions and civil society actors in adaptation and rebuilding after climate disasters. It will also
cover related topics including climate financing, migration and displacement, and the use of
housing policy to support mobility strategies, such as managed retreat. Last, it will engage new
perspectives on climate urbanism and reparative forms of climate justice.
The seminar will be organized in three parts: First, it will cover the policy paradigms which
inform this area of planning, within the context of national policies including US federal
emergency management laws and framework and the major international frameworks, and
international agreements which guide disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation policies in a
global context. Second, it will pay close attention to the role of government and local
communities, urban inequality such as racial segregation and conflict in the planning process
drawing on case studies primarily from the US and Latin America, but also other regions in the
Global South. Third, it will cover new horizons in climate studies including new analytical
strategies and frames focused on governance.

 

Grade Breakdown

Reading and Discussion – 30%

Short essay – 20%

Seminar Facilitation – 20%

Final Paper – 30%

 

Reading and Discussion

Seminar participants are expected to closely read everything that has been assigned before the class meeting. The majority of each meeting will consist of engaged and active discussion. In order for this to work, each participant in the course will need to actively participate—sharing opinions, raising questions and points of dis/continuity in the readings, and respectfully engaging the arguments from the readings and their fellow seminar participants. My primary aim is to moderate discussion as needed, though I will periodically interject with brief presentations.

 

Seminar Facilitation

Each week, two members of the class will be in charge of co-facilitating discussion. Those presenters will be expected to read closely, prepare brief summaries of the readings, and come prepared with questions and discussion points to pose to the other seminar participants. 15-20 minutes will be allocated at the beginning of seminar each week to give the presenters a chance to set the stage for seminar and guide discussion. Those members of the course that are presenting each week should also plan to act as "experts" for that week's readings, and thus, they should be prepared to take a particularly active role in discussion.

During the first course meeting, seminar participants will select which weeks they are interested in facilitating. It is generally expected, but certainly not required, that the co-facilitators for each week will meet before seminar to discuss the readings, identify key points, and make a plan for how they will guide the week's seminar.

 

Short Essay

Midterm, each seminar participant will be expected to write a short essay in response to questions I will provide. The objective of the essay is to evaluate your understanding of the concepts we are discussing in the seminar. You will not need to perform any outside research for this assignment. The essay should be completed in no more than 5 pages.

 

Final Paper

Each seminar participant will be expected to produce a final paper for the course. I want these papers to be useful for you, and so I am willing to be flexible on the length and format, so long as the paper is on a topic that is relevant to the course and is of an appropriate scope for a graduate seminar.

However, generally speaking the paper should be no longer than 15 pages. I will need to approve your plans for a final paper, so I ask that each member of the seminar discuss their paper topic and format with me ahead of time.

Schedule

Week 1 – Jan. 22

Introduction and overview

Week 2 – Jan. 29

Defining Climate Adaptation

Disaster Planning and Emergency Management

Readings

  • Susan Julius, Ira Fieldman and JoAnn Carmin (2022). Urban Climate Adaptation Planning, Governance, and Economics in Climate Change and US Cities: Urban Systems, Sectors and Prospects for Action. Chapter 4.
  • Cynthia Rosenzweig. (2018). Climate Change and Cities: Second Assessment Report of the Urban Climate Change Research Network. Urban Climate Change Research Network. Cambridge University Press. Forewords, Introduction, Chapter 3.

Recommended

  • Eric Chu. (2015). The political economy of urban climate adaptation and development planning in Surat, India. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space. Vol. 34, Issue 2, 281-298

  • Rawshan Ara Begum et al. (2014). Toward conceptual frameworks for linking disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 10. 362-373

Week 3 – Feb. 5

Vulnerability and the Social Roots of Climate Disasters 

Pressure and Release Model

Readings

  • Tierney, Kathleen. (2014). The Social Roots of Risk: Producing Disasters, Promoting Resilience. Stanford CA: Stanford Business Books. Chapter 6-7.
  • Wisner, Ben. et al. (2004). At Risk: Natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disasters. Second Edition. Routledge. Taylor & Francis Group. Chapter 2.

Week 4 – Feb. 12

Coastal Adaptation Planning

Flood Mitigation

Readings

  • Gaul, Gilbert. (2019). The Geography of Risk: Epic Storms, Rising Seas, and the Cost of America’s Coasts. Sarah Crichton Books, New York. Introduction & Ch 15.
  • Eric Gaisie, Patrick Brandful Cobbinah,(2023).Planning for context-based climate adaptation: Flood management inquiry in Accra, Environmental Science & Policy, Volume 141, Pages 97-108


Recommended

Week 5 – Feb. 19

UN: Conference of the Parties

International and National Frameworks for Recovery

Readings

  • Johnson, Laurie A., and Olshansky, Robert B. (2016). After Great Disasters: How Six Countries Managed Community Recovery. Policy Focus Report, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge MA. https://www.lincolninst.edu/pubs/3679_After-Great-Disasters Chapter 1, Chapter 8.
  • Olazabal, Marta et al. (2019). Are local climate adaptation policies credible? A conceptual and operational assessment framework. International Journal of Urban and Sustainable Development Vo. 11, Issue 3: Planning and financing climate-safe cities 

Week 6 – Feb. 26

Disaster Recovery

Structure of US risk management system – The Stafford Act 

Readings

  • Cutter, Susan. (2020). “Tipping Points in Policy and Practice,” in Rubin, Claire and Cutter, Susan. Editors. U.S. Emergency Management in the 21st Century: From Disaster to Catastrophe. Routledge, New York.
  • Olshansky, Robert and Laurie Johnson. (2014). The Evolution of the Federal Role in Supporting Community Recovery After U.S. Disasters. Journal of the American Planning Association, 80(4): 293-304

Paper Proposal Due

Week 7 – Mar. 4

No Class Meeting

Short Essay Due

Week 8 – Mar. 11

SPRING BREAK

Week 9 – Mar. 18

Social Cascades and Compounding Costs Superstorm Sandy – NYC

Hurricane Maria - Puerto Rico

Informality

Readings

  • Finn, Donovan. (2020). “Hurricane Sandy,” in Rubin, Claire and Cutter, Susan.  Editors.

U.S. Emergency Management in the 21st Century: From Disaster to Catastrophe. Routledge, New York

  • Santos-Hernandez, Jennifer, et al. (2020). “Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico,” in Rubin, Claire and Cutter, Susan. Editors. U.S. Emergency Management in the 21st Century: From Disaster to Catastrophe. Routledge, New York.
  • García, I. (2021). Deemed Ineligible: Reasons Homeowners in Puerto Rico Were Denied Aid After Hurricane María. Housing Policy Debate, 0(0), 1–21

Week 10 – Mar. 25

Disaster Capitalism

Hurricane Katrina – New Orleans

Readings

  • Adams, Vincanne. (2013). Markets of Sorrow, Labors of Faith: New Orleans in the Wake

of Katrina. Duke University Press. Introduction – Chapter 1.

  • Klein, Naomi. (2007). The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Picador, New York, New York. Chapter 20. "Disaster Apartheid"

Week 11 – Apr. 1

Climate Displacement  

Managed Retreat 

Readings

  • Kothari, U. (2014). Political discourses of climate change and migration: Resettlement policies in the Maldives. The Geographical Journal, 180(2), 130–140
  • Efadul Huq and Tanzil Shafique. (2023). People move, policies don’t: discursive partition against climate-impacted dwellers in  urbanizing Bangladesh. Environment & Urbanization. International Institute for Environment and Development. Vol. 35 No 1.
  • AR Siders, Idowu Ajibade and David Casagrande. (2021). Transformative potential of managed retreat as climate adaptation. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. Vol 50, 272-280,

Week 12 – Apr. 8

Climate Governance

Readings

  • Bulkeley, H. (2015). An urban politics of climate change: Experimentation and the governing of socio-technical transitions (7526158). Routledge. Chapter 2
  • Monica Di Gregorio et al. (2019). Multi-level governance and power in climate change policy networks. Global Environmental Change. Vol. 54, 64-77

Community based adaptation

Lisa Schipper et al. (2014). Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change: Scaling it up. Ch. 1, Ch. 4 Ch. 11 

Week 13 – Apr. 5

Climate Justice

Readings

  • Burkett, Maxine. (2018). Behind the Veil: Climate Migration, Regime Shift, and a New Theory of Justice. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Vol. 53
  • Rivera, D. Z. (2020). Disaster Colonialism: A Commentary on Disasters beyond Singular Events to Structural Violence. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, n/a(n/a).
  • Schlosberg, D., Collins, L. B., & Niemeyer, S. (2017). Adaptation policy and community discourse: Risk, vulnerability, and just transformation. Environmental Politics, 26(3), 413– 437

Guest Speaker

Week 14 – Apr. 15

Climate Financing 

Carbon Markets

  • Jafry, T. (Ed.). (2018). Routledge Handbook of Climate Justice (1st ed.). Routledge. Ch. 12-14

Week 15 – Apr. 22

Climate Activism

Readings

  • Savannah Cox. (2024). "Accounting" for Climate Justice: Fiscal fights over Climate-Changed Urban Futures. 
  • Kian Goh. (2024). Making Movements: Mobilizing for more just sociecological futures in a megacity. 

Conclusion

Final Paper due May 3rd