Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Clim.
Sec. Climate Mobility
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fclim.2024.1481919
This article is part of the Research Topic Managed Retreat in Response to Climate Hazards View all articles

Senses of Justice After Managed Retreat in New York City

Provisionally accepted
Veronica Olivotto Veronica Olivotto 1,2*Katinka Wijsman Katinka Wijsman 3Timon McPhearson Timon McPhearson 4,5,6
  • 1 The New School, New York City, United States
  • 2 Urban Systems Lab, New York City, Georgia, United States
  • 3 Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands, Netherlands
  • 4 Urban Systems Lab, The New School, New York City, United States
  • 5 Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, United States
  • 6 Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Sea level rise and increasing frequency and intensity of coastal storms are driving the need for managed retreat and relocation for at risk coastal populations. Managed retreat through voluntary buyouts is typically studied either from the perspective of the buyouts’ process or focused on those who leave, but little attention is given to who and what is left behind. How do buyouts impact those staying behind, and their senses of justice? Here, we examine this question for the low-lying majority-minority neighborhood of Edgemere, Queens in New York City where Superstorm Sandy buyouts and a long history of failed urban renewal have led to large amounts of vacant land. This study analyzes ongoing and intersectional conditions of residents’ flood vulnerability. It then grounds this analysis with eighteen in-depth interviews with local residents capturing their perceptions of vacant land and its reuse, flood risk and neighborhood needs. The analysis is complemented with field observations, semi-structured interviews with city agencies involved in resilience planning initiatives including analyses of historical urban planning and open space plans of this area. The study discusses the complexities and traumas of living in flood prone disenfranchised coastal neighborhoods and how they entangle with the housing crisis. Findings reveal the importance of elevating residents’ understanding of place to inform possible land uses after retreat in historically disinvested neighborhoods. The study suggests that if retreat and post-buyout efforts aspire to be just, they need to center the relationships between past and present distributive inequities and recognitional harms.

    Keywords: contextual justice, Recognitional Justice, distributive justice, managed retreat, property buyout, Land restoration, New York City

    Received: 16 Aug 2024; Accepted: 18 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Olivotto, Wijsman and McPhearson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Veronica Olivotto, The New School, New York City, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.