“They Didn’t See It Coming”: Green Resilience Planning and Vulnerability to Future Climate Gentrification

Abstract

As cities strive to protect vulnerable residents from climate risks and impacts, recent studies have identified a challenging link between these measures and gentrification processes that reconfigure, but do not necessarily eliminate, climate insecurities. Green resilient infrastructure (GRI) may especially increase the vulnerability of lower income communities of color to gentrification, an issue that remains underexplored. Drawing on the forerunner green city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as our case study, this article adopts a novel intersectional approach to assess overlapping and interdependent factors in generating vulnerability and resilience using spatial quantitative data and qualitative interviews with community-based organizers, nonprofits, and municipal stakeholders. More specifically, this article develops a new methodology to assess vulnerability to future climate gentrification and contributes to debates on the role of urban development, housing, and sustainability practices in climate justice dynamics. It also informs strategies that can reduce social and racial inequities in the context of climate adaptation planning.