Cities, Climate Change, and Public Health

Ella Jisun Kim

Description

An examination of climate adaptation planning that situates people’s health and well-being front and center

To date, climate adaptation has mostly focused on protecting physical assets from potentially catastrophic climatic changes. While the lack of human vulnerability and equity components in adaptation plans and policies has been critiqued by many, this has not yet led to climate adaptation planning and policymaking processes that situates people’s health and well-being front and center.

This book examines how cities can use a public health frame of climate change to boost people’s understanding of and concern about climate change and increase policy support for climate adaptation efforts at the local level. In addition, it aims to strengthen our understanding of different tools cities can use to operationalize a focus on the health implications of climate change, enhance collective decision-making capacities, and, ultimately, build human resilience to climate change.

List of Figures and Tables; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Cities, Climate Change, and Public Health; Chapter 3 Collective Climate Adaptation at the Local Level; Chapter 4 Framing Climate Change as a Public Health Issue; Chapter 5 Role- Play Simulations; Chapter 6 Digital Games; Chapter 7 Role- Play Simulations versus Digital Games; Chapter 8 Discussion and Policy Recommendations; Appendix A. Issue Framing Vignettes; Appendix B. Issue Framing Survey Questions; Appendix C. Role- Play Simulation Before- Survey Questions; Appendix D. Role- Play Simulation After- Survey Questions; Appendix E. Role- Play Simulation Facilitator Questionnaire; Appendix F. Role- Play Simulation Debriefi ng Script; Appendix G. Role- Play Simulation Post- Game Interview Questions; Appendix H. Role- Play Simulation Workshop Sample Characteristics; Appendix I. Digital Game Before- Survey Questions; Appendix J. Digital Game After- Survey Questions; Appendix K. Digital Game Post- Game Interview Questions; Appendix L. Digital Game Sample Characteristics; References; Index.

Sujets

• Médecine
• Climate change
• Public health
• Public administration
• Sciences et techniques
• POLITICAL SCIENCE

Informations

• Publié par: Anthem Press
• Date de parution: 20 avril 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785273261
• Langue: English

Extrait

Cities, Climate Change, and Public Health
Cities, Climate Change, and Public Health
Building Human Resilience to Climate Change at the Local Level
Ella Jisun Kim
Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com
This edition first published in UK and USA 2020
by ANTHEM PRESS
75–76 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK
or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK
and
244 Madison Ave #116, New York, NY 10016, USA
Copyright © Ella Jisun Kim 2020
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019955639
ISBN-13: 978-1-78527-324-7 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78527-324-8 (Hbk)
This title is also available as an e-book.
To Miro
CONTENTS
List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Cities, Climate Change, and Public Health
Chapter 3 Collective Climate Adaptation at the Local Level
Chapter 4 Framing Climate Change as a Public Health Issue
Chapter 5 Role-Play Simulations
Chapter 6 Digital Games
Chapter 7 Role-Play Simulations versus Digital Games
Chapter 8 Discussion and Policy Recommendations
Appendix A. Issue Framing Vignettes
Appendix B. Issue Framing Survey Questions
Appendix C. Role-Play Simulation Before-Survey Questions
Appendix D. Role-Play Simulation After-Survey Questions
Appendix E. Role-Play Simulation Facilitator Questionnaire
Appendix F. Role-Play Simulation Debriefing Script
Appendix G. Role-Play Simulation Post-Game Interview Questions
Appendix H. Role-Play Simulation Workshop Sample Characteristics
Appendix I. Digital Game Before-Survey Questions
Appendix J. Digital Game After-Survey Questions
Appendix K. Digital Game Post-Game Interview Questions
Appendix L. Digital Game Sample Characteristics
References
Index
FIGURES AND TABLES
Figures
5.1 Overview of Face-to-Face Role-Play Simulation and Data Collection
5.2 Effects of RPS on Different Types of Learning by Political Viewpoint
6.1 Home Screen of Digital Game
6.2 Phase 1 of Martin
6.3 Phase 2 of Martin
6.4 Phase 3 of Martin
6.5 Effects of Digital Game on Different Types of Learning by Political Viewpoint
6.6 Proactive Learning: Checking the Heat Index
6.7 Proactive Learning: Checking the Air Quality Index
Tables
2.1 Human Health Effects of Climate Change
2.2 The Five Steps of BRACE: Building Resilience Against Climate Effects
2.3 Checklist for Integrating Health into Climate Planning
4.1 Main Effects of Framing on Key Dependent Variables
5.1 Main Effects of RPS on Key Dependent Variables
5.2 Main Effects of RPS on Key Dependent Variables by Political Viewpoint
5.3 Effects of RPS on Different Types of Learning by Political Viewpoint
5.4 Prioritization of Local Climate Risks in Climate Adaptation, Before and After RPS
5.5 Prioritization of Policy Approaches to Manage Climate Risks, Before and After RPS
6.1 Main Effects of Digital Game on Key Dependent Variables
6.2 Main Effects of Digital Game on Key Dependent Variables by Political Viewpoint
6.3 Effects of Digital Game on Different Types of Learning by Political Viewpoint
6.4 Prioritization of Local Climate Risks in Climate Adaptation, Before and After Digital Game
7.1 Role-Play Simulation versus Digital Game Demographics
7.2 Main Effects of RPS versus Digital Game on Key Dependent Variables
7.3 Main Effects of RPS on Key Dependent Variables by Political Viewpoint
7.4 Main Effects of Digital Game on Key Dependent Variables by Political Viewpoint
7.5 Effects of RPS on Different Types of Learning by Political Viewpoint
7.6 Effects of Digital Game on Different Types of Learning by Political Viewpoint
7.7 Summary and Comparison of Face-to-Face RPSs and Digital Games
8.1 Comparison of Face-to-Face RPSs and Digital Games
8.2 Human Health Effects of Climate Change
Appendix H Role-Play Simulation Workshop Sample Characteristics
Appendix L Digital Game Sample Characteristics
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is based on my dissertation research for a PhD in environmental planning and public policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Looking back, this book would not have been possible without the support and resources I received during my time in Cambridge.
In particular, I’d like to thank Lawrence Susskind for his exceptional mentorship. I’m also grateful to Jinhua Zhao for his advice on behavioral research and optimism about my dissertation, and Mariana Arcaya for her astute guidance on all matters methodological. I owe particular thanks to John Bolduc and Sam Lipson from the City of Cambridge for their support in testing the approaches and tools outlined in this book.
I would not have been able to successfully conduct this research without funding from the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, the MIT Energy Initiative, the Martin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainability, and the Environmental Research and Education Foundation. Additional support was provided by a research seed grant from the Boston Area Research Initiative.
I owe many thanks to all the people who participated in this research, especially to the participants who gave their time to be interviewed. I hope I have done justice to the insights you shared with me.
I am grateful to Anthem Press for accepting this manuscript, and I’d like to thank Megan Grieving for her support during the manuscript preparation process.
Thank you to my family—my parents, my sister Michelle, and my brother Daniel—for their unwavering love and encouragement.
Finally, I am especially grateful to my husband and best friend Steven for inspiring me to write this book. Oppa, I couldn’t have finished it without your homecooked meals and pep talks along the way, and I hope I can be as patient and supportive for your endeavors.
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Recent years’ increases in the intensity, frequency, and duration of hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific ocean basins, along with the incidence of the most intense (Categories 4 and 5) storms, are in part due to higher atmospheric and sea surface temperatures from climate change (Emanuel 2017 ; Melillo et al. 2014 ). More importantly, even if we were to stop emitting greenhouse gases today, with the lock-in of irreversible temperature increases from past emissions, climate impacts are expected to continue for the next few centuries (IPCC 2014 ; Melillo 2014 ; Solomon et al. 2009 ).
In 2017, Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm, dumped more than 50 inches of rain over southeast Texas, resulting in more than eighty deaths and $180 billion of damage (Amadeo 2017 ). The historic and catastrophic devastation caused by the storm posed a host of public health concerns. Hurricane Harvey caused more than eight hundred wastewater treatment facilities and thirteen Superfund sites with toxic chemicals to flood (Hernandez, Zezima, and Achenbach 2017 ). Standing water in flooded homes in Houston was found to contain up to 135 times of what is considered safe of E. coli , a measure of fecal contamination (Kaplan and Healy 2017 ). News stories broke of how a senior citizen and a firefighter contracted necrotizing fasciitis, or “flesh-eating bacteria,” from the contaminated floodwaters (Astor 2017 ). Long after the water drained and media attention subsided, post-Harvey residents had to grapple with increased risks of wound infections, diarrhea from toxic waters, and health threats from mold, mosquitoes, and other disease vectors, along with mental health stressors (Grigg 2017 ). The public health implications of climate change are significant.
As cities in the United States and around the world are increasingly experiencing the impacts of climate change, many are starting to include climate considerations in their planning and policymaking processes (Bierbaum et al. 2013 ; IPCC 2014 ). Cities are looking not only to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, industries, and transportation to prevent future climate change but also to prepare for and manage climatic changes that have already been set in motion.
Urban climate adaptation to date has mostly focused on how cities can protect their physical assets from potential climate-related disasters, with an increasing emphasis on enhancing resilience, or creating places that can absorb and withstand climatic shocks (Hughes 2015 ). Scholars and practitioners have critiqued climate adaptation’s current emphasis on building physical resilience to climate change, pointing out that adaptation plans rarely incorporate equity or social vulnerability (Hughes 2015 ). Consequently, calls have emerged for climate adaptation to focus on human vulnerabilities instead (IPCC 2014 , ch. 15; Rumbach and Kudva 2011 ).
To that end, this book is about why and how the health impacts of climate change should be given a more promin