Managed Retreat

Managed retreat, called climate relocation, is a purposeful and coordinated movement of people and assets from risky areas and resettling them in relatively safer locations. Retreat is contentious because it affects people’s sense of place and identity, livelihoods, communities, and sovereignty. Some people see managed retreat as an adaptation to climate change, while others see it as a failure to adapt in place. My work on retreat covers several issues including its environmental and social justice implications and the intersections with race, class, gender, and social differences. I also examine concerns about the valuation of land in monetary terms, reinforcement of Western conception of property rights, buyout processes that favor some and not others,  and the role of retreat in the unmaking and re-making of place as well as linkages to the expansion of new megadevelopments in coastal areas that benefit mostly wealthy groups.

My collection of scholarships on managed retreat programs seeks to advance inclusive, equitable, and just forms of adaptation for disadvantaged and marginalized communities, whether this means implementing in-situ resilience strategies, migration, retreat programs, or resettlement in safer and sustainable ecologies. I have worked with communities, policymakers,  activists, students, nonprofit leaders, scholars from different disciplines, and backgrounds to address questions about justice and equity in managed retreat programs. My co-edited book on this topic engaged with indigenous scholars, artists, ecologists, feminist scholars, lawyers, urban planners, architects, poets, cultural heritage scholars, audiovisual communicators, adaptation scholars, and disaster risk reduction practitioners. I currently serve on the organizing committee for “NSF FIRE-PLAN:  Assessing Managed Retreat as an Adaptive Response to Wildfire Risk” led by Liz Koslov and Kathryn McConnell.