Receiving Communities and Climate Destinations

Research on climate mobility is advancing rapidly, yet much of the current research focuses on places of origin, for example in addressing questions related to how climate impacts influence decisions to migrate from or stay in a specific place. To date, the research community has given less attention to important questions related to existing or potential climate migrant-receiving communities and destination locations. Movement of people into areas – whether voluntary migrants or displaced populations - will have serious implications for human security, equity, infrastructure needs, and resources in those destinations. Developing a better understanding of where climate migrants may move will also enable proactive rather than reactive planning for that movement and associated population changes. Promoting and prioritizing healthy, just, and equitable cities in the future will require much more work on the part of researchers, policymakers, and planners to accommodate the potential increases in rural-to-urban migration owing to climate impacts on the agriculture sector, and what support they will require when they arrive. Research should consider the complex interactions between social and economic conditions, infrastructure, and climate change to support migrants and existing residents. As research on climate-related migration continues to expand, this additional focus on destinations will be critical. Reflecting the importance of this topic, the IPCC has announced a forthcoming Special Report on Climate Change and Cities to be released in 2027. Emerging work could be important to inform that report.

The goal of this Research Topic (RT) is to provide a compilation of current research that can advance our understanding of climate-migrant receiving communities and climate destinations. We welcome both quantitative and qualitative research from any relevant discipline. We also identify papers that help to identify and elucidate critical gaps in our current understanding of receiving communities. The editors are also interested in understanding how climate-related migration could contribute to social and economic burdens in destination communities, especially for historically marginalized and disadvantaged migrant and non-migrant populations such as low-income groups, racial and ethnic minorities, the very old and very young, and people with health conditions.

We welcome papers addressing the following topics, among others:

- Analysis or prediction of where climate-related migrants go or may go in the future.
- The role of slow- and rapid-onset climate events in destination selection.
- Potential climate impacts in destination areas, and migration towards new or different risks.
- Managed retreat and community relocation.
- Built environment (infrastructure, urban planning, land use, etc.) considerations for receiving communities.
- Employment and livelihood opportunities in destinations.
- Experiences of climate migrants in destination locations including specific case studies in the U.S. or international contexts.
- Social cohesion considerations in receiving communities including the role of social networks, sense of belonging, and prejudice.
- Health (mental and physical) of migrants in destinations.
- Justice and equity considerations for migrants and local residents in destination locations.
- Dynamics of community change in destinations including potential gentrification and displacement.

Keywords: climate-related migration, receiving communities, destinations, equity, infrastructure

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.