Managed Retreat in New York City

David McNamara

Physical and social vulnerability to flood risks are not naturally occurring, but instead are socially, economically, and politically constructed through time. Many of the tools proposed in climate change adaptation discussions focus on physical alterations to the built environment, leaving out considerations of social policy. Several contradictions thus arise when considering policies like managed retreat, basement dwelling regulations, coastal zoning and others that aim to protect residents from coastal and inland flooding, in a political economy of housing insecurity, rent burden, wealth stratification, and the retreat of the state from public investments. On the one hand, the arguments to retreat from areas that will increasingly experience acute disasters from coastal storms and cloud bursts and chronic challenges like increasing tidal flood and eventual permanent inundation must...