This dissertation examines social, political, and cultural dimensions of displacement, resettlement planning, and climate change adaptation policy experimentation along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast. I draw upon four years of ethnographic research alongside Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribal leaders, during a period just before and after their resettlement plans garnered $48 million in federal financial support. Through participant observation and interviews with Tribal leaders, their allies, media-makers who covered the Tribe’s experiences, and state planners tasked with administering the federal funds, I examined social encounters produced as the Tribe’s resettlement plans were embraced, circulated, and transformed throughout international media and policy. My analysis points to a number of tensions expressed as Tribal community-driven efforts to address historically produced vulnerabilities collided with government efforts to reduce exposure to coastal environmental hazards. I describe how policies, planning practices, and particular constructions of disaster and community encumbered Tribal leaders’ long-standing struggle for recognition, self-determination and sovereignty, land, and cultural survival. Ultimately, I argue that the state’s allocation of federal resettlement funds has reproduced a colonial frontier dynamic whereby redevelopment is rested upon the erasure of Indigenous histories; identities; and ongoing struggles for self- determination, land, and cultural survival. Using ethnography to interrogate the social encounters produced through adaptation may inform policies, planning processes, and activism in solidarity with those already regenerating social and ecological relationships threatened by racial capitalism, settler colonialism, and climate change. / Anthropology

Human beings have relied on outdoor public spaces for thousands of years to recreate, socialize, exercise, and conduct business. As climate change leads to more severe weather including flooding, prolonged heatwaves, and wildfires, our ability to safely spend time outdoors is increasingly under threat. While a lot of attention has focused on bolstering the resilience of physical infrastructure, social infrastructure such as public parks are often left behind. To address this issue, this project uses East Potomac Park in Washington, DC as a case study to explore architectural interventions to physically and socially adapt parks for climate change. The existing park, which sits on a sinking island constructed in the early 20th century, is frequently forced to close due to tidal flooding. Utilizing a managed retreat along the southwestern edge of the park, the northeastern edge can be reconstructed as a resilient park for the next century. A series of interconnected pavilions each contain a unique architectural program coupled with passive and active environmental strategies to create comfortable recreational opportunities throughout the year. Specifically, sawtooth roofs, brise soleil, and vegetation are explored to manage temperatures, light, and airflow. / Master of Architecture / Human beings have relied on outdoor public spaces for thousands of years to recreate, socialize, exercise, and conduct business. As climate change leads to more severe weather including flooding, prolonged heatwaves, and wildfires, our ability to safely spend time outdoors is increasingly under threat. While a lot of attention has focused on bolstering the resilience of physical infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, social infrastructure such as public parks are often left behind. To address this issue, this project uses East Potomac Park in Washington, DC as a case study to explore architectural strategies to physically and socially adapt parks for climate change. The existing park, which sits on a sinking island constructed in the early 20th century, is frequently forced to close due to tidal flooding. Utilizing a managed retreat along the southwestern edge of the park, the northeastern edge can be reconstructed as a resilient park for the next century with a series of interconnected pavilions housing recreational or social space.

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Conservation of intertidal habitats in the UK is vital in order to continue to support nationally and internationally important populations of non-breeding waterbirds. Historic reclamation for agriculture and industry has resulted in the loss and degradation of large areas of these intertidal habitats in estuaries and they continue to be threatened by sea-level rise. Managed realignment is one method which is increasingly being used to restore intertidal habitats. As managed realignment is a relatively new restoration technique, the extent to which knowledge of the biology of estuaries is applicable to managed realignment sites is unclear. Habitat restoration is often unsuccessful or incomplete, so a detailed knowledge of both the natural system and the characteristics of restored systems will usually be necessary to recreate fully-functional estuarine habitats. This thesis focuses on Nigg Bay Managed Realignment Site (Nigg Bay MRS), the first managed realignment site in Scotland, and follows the first four years of ecological development to gain an understanding of how breached realignment can be used to restore intertidal habitats to support non-breeding waterbirds. This thesis has six major aims: (i) to describe the development of saltmarsh, (ii) to describe the development of intertidal flat, (iii) to describe the colonisation by non-breeding waterbirds (iv) to determine how tidal cycle and weather affect patterns of waterbird use, (v) to determine which factors affect the spatial distribution of waders and finally (vi) to determine the patterns of use by individual birds. Four summers after the re-establishment of tidal conditions, almost all of the saltmarsh species recorded on the nearby saltmarsh had colonised Nigg Bay MRS, although recognisable communities had yet to establish. Three winters after the re- establishment of tidal conditions in Nigg Bay MRS, the sediments had a significantly smaller particle size and higher organic matter content compared to the fine sands of the adjacent intertidal flats. The intertidal invertebrate community also differed from the adjacent intertidal flats. Nigg Bay MRS attracted large numbers of non-breeding waterbirds and supported each of the most common wader and wildfowl species present in the wider estuary. Nigg Bay MRS performs a number of important functions for non-breeding waterbirds by: (i) providing a foraging and resting habitat when the tide is absent and intertidal sediments in Nigg Bay are exposed; (ii) providing a foraging resource as the tide passes over the intertidal sediments within the site once the intertidal flats in Nigg Bay are inundated; and (iii) providing a high tide roosting site. On days with low temperatures and high wind speeds, more waterbirds use Nigg Bay MRS, suggesting that it is likely to be providing sheltering benefits. Nigg Bay MRS also provides top-up feeding habitat. The factors that often influence the spatial distributions of waders in estuaries appear to be operating within Nigg Bay MRS. Wader densities are greater on the intertidal flats when they are accessible than on the saltmarsh. Wader densities are also greatest close to creeks and drainage channels, possibly due to higher invertebrate densities, more accessible prey or sheltering benefits. Colour-ringing and radio-tracking of Common Redshank established that Nigg Bay MRS has a subset of regular users, including both adults and juveniles, and the wader assemblage at night may differ from the assemblage during the day. These findings are discussed in terms of the implications for locating, designing and managing future managed realignment projects.

Depuis 2012, le gouvernement français porte une stratégie nationale de gestion intégrée du trait de côte tournée vers la relocalisation des enjeux bâtis, associée à un projet de territoire. Au Québec, une telle stratégie n’a pas été élaborée, mais des habitations sont ponctuellement déplacées ou détruites en situation d’urgence. Cette thèse de doctorat analyse la façon dont la question du recul des enjeux est abordée en France et au Québec. Un premier bilan des expériences passées révèle que la relocalisation telle qu’envisagée par le gouvernement français s’est rarement concrétisée. Face à ce constat, l’objectif de cette recherche est de confronter les idées soutenues par les gouvernements à travers leurs politiques publiques aux réalités du terrain et d’identifier les freins et les possibilités de mise en oeuvre d’un projet de territoire intégrant la relocalisation. Pour cela, une enquête a été menée auprès d’acteurs institutionnels d’une part, et d’habitants de municipalités exposées en France et au Québec d’autre part. Ces enquêtes révèlent des dissemblances dans la façon d’aborder le recul par les gouvernements et les acteurs institutionnels, qui sont à relier à des différences fondamentales de l’action publique dans les deux territoires. Mais, la mise en oeuvre de cette option soulève aussi de nombreuses questions communes, en matière de finances, de gestion du foncier et d’acceptabilité sociale. Les freins majeurs identifiés concernent la gouvernance d’un projet de recul anticipé, qui repose sur une idée impopulaire et relève du long terme. Les intérêts portés à différentes échelles semblent actuellement suffisamment antagonistes pour compromettre l’émergence d’un projet de territoire intégrant la relocalisation. Néanmoins, une proposition de loi en France et une évolution récente de l’action du gouvernement québécois ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives. / Since 2012, the French government has carried out a national strategy for the integrated coastline management that promotes managed retreat (or relocation) included in a territorial project. In Quebec, such a strategy has not been developed, but houses are occasionally displaced or destroyed. This PhD focuses on how managed retreat is tackled in France and in Quebec. A first assessment of past experiences reveals that relocation has rarely been materialized as the French government conceives it. The aim of this research is to confront the ideas supported by governments through their public policy with the ground and to identify the obstacles and the possibilities of implementing relocation. To reach this goal, we have gathered the opinion of institutional stakeholders through semi-directive interviews. Two polls have also been carried out to get inhabitants point of view. These surveys reveal dissimilarities in the approaches taken by governments and institutional actors in France and Quebec. It reflects fundamental differences in public policy in both territories. Moreover, the implementation of relocation raises many common issues, financial, land management and social acceptability issues. Major constraints concern governance of relocation project, which is based on an unpopular idea and is a long term challenge. Interests at different scales seem to be sufficiently antagonistic to compromise the emergence of a territorial project integrating relocation. Nevertheless, a law proposal in France and a recent evolution of the Quebec government's action open up new perspectives.

Havsnivåhöjning och kraftigare stormar är två konsekvenser av klimatförändringarna som i sin tur leder till ökad erosion och översvämning. När kustområdena omvandlas, och i värsta fall försvinner, påverkas människors möjligheter att bo och leva där. För att minska risken att sociala, ekonomiska och ekologiska värden går förlorade krävs att vi planerar skyddsåtgärder för havsnivåhöjning, erosion och översvämning samt planerar för hur vi kan anpassa oss efter dessa föränderliga förutsättningar.  Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur svenska kommuner planerar för klimatanpassning idag och hur planerad reträtt skulle kunna användas som strategi i Sverige. Flexmark, en idé som tagits fram i ett projekt lett av SGI, inkluderades i studien för att ta reda på om den kan underlätta planeringen för klimatanpassning i Sverige. För att genomföra undersökningen valdes de skånska kommunerna Ystad, Trelleborg och Lomma ut samt Länsstyrelsen Skåne och Region Skåne för djupare studie. I studien undersöktes plandokument rörande klimatanpassning framtagna av kommunerna, regionen och länsstyrelsen. En intervjustudie med informanter från samtliga organisationer kompletterade studien. Resultatet visade att de valda kommunerna jobbar med klimatanpassning men än så länge inte med planerad reträtt. Osäkerhet kring vad som är möjligt enligt PBL, motstånd hos kommuninvånare samt frågan om vem som skulle ansvara för och finansiera reträtten angavs som några av de aspekter som gör strategin svår att införa.  Naturbaserade lösningar och vallar är klimatanpassningsåtgärder som används inom kommunerna idag. Majoriteten av de intervjuade anser att planerad reträtt kommer behövas i svensk planering i framtiden men att det idag inte finns möjlighet eller vilja att utföra en sådan åtgärd. För att ge inspiration till hur reträtt kan planeras och hanteras presenteras tre internationella exempel som en referensram för vad som varit framgångsfaktorer för lyckade reträtter i andra länder. De internationella fallen tillsammans med intervjuerna och dokumentstudien analyseras för att undersöka hur planerad reträtt skulle kunna användas som strategi i Sverige. Idéen om flexmark fick ett generellt positivt mottagande bland informanterna i intervjustudien och skulle med fördel kunna användas som verktyg inom strategin planerad reträtt.  Tillvägagångssätt för planerad reträtt i en svensk kontext analyserades utifrån styrningsmodellerna hierarkisk styrning, samarbetsstyrning samt självstyrning som presenterar olika alternativ för initiativ, styrning och finansiering av planerad reträtt. Samarbetsstyrd planerad reträtt, med initiativtagande och styrning på lokal nivå samt rätt till ekonomisk stöttning från nationell nivå, är enligt forskarna i den här studien, den strategi som lämpar sig bäst inom svensk planering. För att planerad reträtt ska få ett lyckat resultat krävs att berörda parter involveras tidigt och att kontinuerlig dialog förs mellan dem under processen. / Sea level rise and increased intensity of storms are two consequences of climate change which in turn lead to increased erosion and flooding. When coastal areas are transformed, and in the worst case disappear, many people's everyday life will be affected. To reduce the risk of social, economic and ecological values ​​being lost, we need to plan for protection against sea level rise, erosion and flooding and plan for how we can adapt to these changing conditions. The purpose of this study is to investigate how Swedish municipalities plan for climate change adaptation today and how planned retreats could be used as a strategy in Sweden. Flexmark, an idea developed in a project led by SGI, was included in the study to find out if it can facilitate planning for climate change adaptation in Sweden. To carry out the investigation, Skånes’s municipalities Ystad, Trelleborg and Lomma were selected, as well as the County Administrative Board of Skåne and Region Skåne for deeper study. The study examined planning documents concerning climate change adaptation produced by the municipalities, the region and the county administrative board. An interview study with informants from all organizations supplemented the study. The results showed that the selected municipalities are working with climate change adaptation but so far not with planned retreats. Uncertainties regarding what is possible according to the Planning and Building Act, opposition from municipal residents and the matter of who would be responsible for and finance the retreat were stated as some of the aspects that make the strategy difficult to implement. Nature-based solutions and dikes are climate change adaptation measures used in municipalities today. The majority of the interviewees believe that planned retreats will be needed in Swedish planning in the future, but today there is no opportunity or willingness to carry out such a measure. To provide inspiration for how retreats can be planned and managed, three international examples are presented as a reference framework for what have been key factors for successful retreats in other countries. The international cases together with the interviews and the document study are analyzed to investigate how planned retreats could be used as a strategy in Sweden. The responses to ​​flexmark were generally positive among the informants and the idea could be used as a tool within the strategy planned retreat. Approaches of planned retreat in a Swedish context were analyzed based on the governance modes hierarchical governance, co-governance and self-governance, which present various alternatives for initiative, governance and financing of planned retreats. Cooperative planned retreat, initiated and governed at local level with financial support from national level, is according to the researchers of this study, the strategy that is best suited in Swedish planning. In order for a planned retreat to generate a successful result, it is necessary that all affected parties are involved early and that a continuous dialogue is conducted between them during the process.

No description available.