patrickbdevaney/mia9 · Datasets at Hugging Face

text stringlengths 0 6.44k
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000041
Copyright: © 2022 Harrison et al. This is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author and source are credited.
Data Availability Statement: Data are available in a
data repository: https://doi.org/10.17604/p318-
6n41.
Introduction
The effects of climate change pose threats to communities worldwide with many urban coastal
communities facing multiple impacts from sea level rise, more frequent and intense storms,
and heat events [1, 2]. As awareness of this existential threat grows among governments, community organizations, and community members, there is a pressing need to develop and test
new adaptation strategies “that integrate stakeholders in the design and implementation
responses (p. 1)” and account for sociocultural as well as geographical and climatic conditions
[3]. A recent comprehensive assessment of global adaptation plans identified priorities for
adaptation research, among them the development of strategies that “enable individuals and
civil society to adapt,” which might entail collective action for social change [4]. Given that
current strategies focused on preserving capital and property can leave large numbers of community members behind [5], interventions that draw upon the social and human capital of
neighborhoods to identify vulnerabilities at a hyperlocal scale, and align decision making with
locally relevant concerns and threats, might yield better outcomes [6–12], as there is increasing
recognition that climate resiliency should revolve around the intersections of public policy and
actions by individuals and households as well [13]. While calls for more participative processes
are ongoing, methods and approaches to improve engagement are still under researched [14,
15]. Echoing the research, our team, having observed more than a decade of regional, county,
and municipal responses to threats from climate change in South Florida, recognized the limitations of responses that emphasize infrastructure to the near exclusion of social resilience,
rely primarily on outside consultants who elicit minimal input from community members,
and fail to lay the groundwork for long-term engagement by residents of affected neighborhoods [see, for example 16–18].
With the goal of advancing research and practice related to community-engaged research
and hyperlocal climate adaptation, this paper (1) details how our approach to community
engaged research builds on two existing processes of photovoice and design thinking, (2)
describes our alternative, a synthesis approach that we conducted in online workshops with
two Miami-Dade County neighborhoods (Homestead and Little River) in July 2020, during
the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, and (3) summarizes outcomes, including comparative analysis between the communities, the alignment and variations in the issues raised by
community members in relation to vulnerabilities identified by geospatial data, and possible
impacts of the HyLo process on individual and community capacity. Key representatives from
local government planning offices participated in all of the workshops, with additional representatives joining during a final exhibition and discussion by participants that focused on how
to move projects forward using existing resources. Comparisons between the two neighborhoods to examine variations in local perceptions of risk and desired solutions are key to our
findings about the importance of focusing on hyperlocal adaptation. In addition to key findings, we discuss lessons learned about community engagement around climate adaptation in
the pandemic environment.
The hyperlocalism method
Focusing on local engagement and action, we developed and piloted the Hyperlocalism
approach—hereafter ‘HyLo’—a community-driven method for climate-adaptation planning
[19]. The HyLo method builds on partnerships among local community organizations, residents, and representatives from local government departments to address existing and future
challenges at the neighborhood level and create a more equitable future for communities facing enhanced social and geographic climate risks. The HyLo method utilizes a communication
as design (CAD) approach [20, 21] to redesign two widely used community-based protocols of
PLOS CLIMATE
Advancing a hyperlocal approach to community engagement in climate adaptation
PLOS Climate \| https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000041 June 8, 2022 2 / 26
Funding: This work was supported by funding
from the University of Miami Laboratory for
Integrated Knowledge: Award #U-LINK 19-764 (JL)
and from AT&T Argonne Labs: Award
#2020737015 (SP). The funders had no role in
study design, data collection and analysis, decision
to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared
that no competing interests exist.
inquiry and deliberation, photovoice and design-thinking. CAD approaches [19–21] seek to
change communication processes from “what is” to “what is desired” by examining communication structures for their normative goals, redesigning protocols and interactions to help
achieve those goals, and addressing unexpected outcomes and limitations of the communication protocols. We further developed an Integrated Climate Risk Assessment (ICRA) tool that
would enable users to consider multiple aspects of risk. This effort responds to a growing recognition that climate risks intersect across multiple physical threats (heat, flooding,
drought. . .etc.), as well as social, economic, and ecological vulnerabilities [22]. Overall, our
approach combines education and geospatial mapping of risk with our integrated approach to
community-based participatory action to provide a framework for residents to share their
lived experiences, advance collective knowledge about neighborhood assets and vulnerabilities,
imagine possible solutions, and communicate their priorities with government leaders. We
designed the HyLo method with scalability and replicability in mind. Central to our approach
is the aim of enabling community organizations in diverse circumstances and locations to replicate the HyLo method.
Below we review photovoice and design thinking, identifying key strengths, limitations,
and gaps to each process.
Photovoice: Goals, current research, and gaps. Photovoice is a process whereby community members take photographs and tell stories about their communities, engage in dialogue,
and present their work through exhibition to policymakers [23]. We view photovoice as the
enactment of hyperlocal identification of risk, vulnerability, and potential for action. Photographs and stories from participants focus on their direct experience in their communities and
represent concerns for the locations that impact their daily lives. As such, photovoice is a central component of our novel community-based participatory approach to stakeholder engagement and climate adaptation planning.
A distinct extension of photo novella [24] that was formally introduced by Wang and Burris
in 1997 [24], this qualitative method of inquiry empowers individuals to capture experiences
in their communities, promote dialogue that produces collective knowledge, and communicate with policymakers and other stakeholders in positions of power [25]. Due to its flexibility
and adaptability, photovoice is particularly well suited for community-based participatory
research [23, 26]. Over the last two decades, photovoice has grown in popularity [26, 27] and
been used in contexts from physical and mental health [27, 28] to community development
[29] and been shown to be accessible to people in a range of age groups and other demographics [30, 31]. Photovoice can be delivered effectively in person or online [32, 33].
An emerging area of interest in photovoice research relates to the environment, emergency
management, and climate resilience planning [34]. In this context, investigators have solicited
the experiences and perspectives of members of rural and indigenous communities recovering
from severe rain and wind events [35], coastal fishing village residents experiencing climatedriven marine ecosystem changes [36], and women in Nepal facing mental health impacts
from drought, water scarcity, and other climate related changes [28]. In work in a coastal setting in Australia, Chandler and Baldwin [37] described the use of photovoice as participants
shared stories demonstrating community understandings of climate change effects and their
capacity as a persuasive tool. Many of these studies have sought to understand the role of social
capital in community resilience, and to explore its place in equitable climate governance [38].
In addition to co-producing new knowledge and developing potential solutions to local
problems, the process of photovoice can build strength and resiliency within individuals
and communities [23], while increasing social capital [38]. Additionally, the photovoice
approach is responsive to the concerns, such as those expressed by members from Isle de Jean
Charles, Louisiana, threatened by sea level rise, regarding the need for, and importance of,
PLOS CLIMATE
Advancing a hyperlocal approach to community engagement in climate adaptation
PLOS Climate \| https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000041 June 8, 2022 3 / 26
community-led approaches and solutions [39]. As such, photovoice is “highly consistent” with

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000041

access article distributed under the terms of the

Creative Commons Attribution License, which

permits unrestricted use, distribution, and

reproduction in any medium, provided the original

author and source are credited.

Data Availability Statement: Data are available in a

data repository: https://doi.org/10.17604/p318-

6n41.

Introduction

The effects of climate change pose threats to communities worldwide with many urban coastal

communities facing multiple impacts from sea level rise, more frequent and intense storms,

and heat events [1, 2]. As awareness of this existential threat grows among governments, community organizations, and community members, there is a pressing need to develop and test

new adaptation strategies “that integrate stakeholders in the design and implementation

responses (p. 1)” and account for sociocultural as well as geographical and climatic conditions

[3]. A recent comprehensive assessment of global adaptation plans identified priorities for

adaptation research, among them the development of strategies that “enable individuals and

civil society to adapt,” which might entail collective action for social change [4]. Given that

current strategies focused on preserving capital and property can leave large numbers of community members behind [5], interventions that draw upon the social and human capital of

neighborhoods to identify vulnerabilities at a hyperlocal scale, and align decision making with

locally relevant concerns and threats, might yield better outcomes [6–12], as there is increasing

recognition that climate resiliency should revolve around the intersections of public policy and

actions by individuals and households as well [13]. While calls for more participative processes

are ongoing, methods and approaches to improve engagement are still under researched [14,

15]. Echoing the research, our team, having observed more than a decade of regional, county,

and municipal responses to threats from climate change in South Florida, recognized the limitations of responses that emphasize infrastructure to the near exclusion of social resilience,

rely primarily on outside consultants who elicit minimal input from community members,

and fail to lay the groundwork for long-term engagement by residents of affected neighborhoods [see, for example 16–18].

With the goal of advancing research and practice related to community-engaged research

and hyperlocal climate adaptation, this paper (1) details how our approach to community

engaged research builds on two existing processes of photovoice and design thinking, (2)

describes our alternative, a synthesis approach that we conducted in online workshops with

two Miami-Dade County neighborhoods (Homestead and Little River) in July 2020, during

the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, and (3) summarizes outcomes, including comparative analysis between the communities, the alignment and variations in the issues raised by

community members in relation to vulnerabilities identified by geospatial data, and possible

impacts of the HyLo process on individual and community capacity. Key representatives from

local government planning offices participated in all of the workshops, with additional representatives joining during a final exhibition and discussion by participants that focused on how

to move projects forward using existing resources. Comparisons between the two neighborhoods to examine variations in local perceptions of risk and desired solutions are key to our

findings about the importance of focusing on hyperlocal adaptation. In addition to key findings, we discuss lessons learned about community engagement around climate adaptation in

the pandemic environment.

The hyperlocalism method

Focusing on local engagement and action, we developed and piloted the Hyperlocalism

approach—hereafter ‘HyLo’—a community-driven method for climate-adaptation planning

[19]. The HyLo method builds on partnerships among local community organizations, residents, and representatives from local government departments to address existing and future

challenges at the neighborhood level and create a more equitable future for communities facing enhanced social and geographic climate risks. The HyLo method utilizes a communication

as design (CAD) approach [20, 21] to redesign two widely used community-based protocols of

PLOS CLIMATE

Advancing a hyperlocal approach to community engagement in climate adaptation

PLOS Climate | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000041 June 8, 2022 2 / 26

Funding: This work was supported by funding

from the University of Miami Laboratory for

Integrated Knowledge: Award #U-LINK 19-764 (JL)

and from AT&T Argonne Labs: Award

#2020737015 (SP). The funders had no role in

study design, data collection and analysis, decision

to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared

that no competing interests exist.

inquiry and deliberation, photovoice and design-thinking. CAD approaches [19–21] seek to

change communication processes from “what is” to “what is desired” by examining communication structures for their normative goals, redesigning protocols and interactions to help

achieve those goals, and addressing unexpected outcomes and limitations of the communication protocols. We further developed an Integrated Climate Risk Assessment (ICRA) tool that

would enable users to consider multiple aspects of risk. This effort responds to a growing recognition that climate risks intersect across multiple physical threats (heat, flooding,

drought. . .etc.), as well as social, economic, and ecological vulnerabilities [22]. Overall, our

approach combines education and geospatial mapping of risk with our integrated approach to

community-based participatory action to provide a framework for residents to share their

lived experiences, advance collective knowledge about neighborhood assets and vulnerabilities,

imagine possible solutions, and communicate their priorities with government leaders. We

designed the HyLo method with scalability and replicability in mind. Central to our approach

is the aim of enabling community organizations in diverse circumstances and locations to replicate the HyLo method.

Below we review photovoice and design thinking, identifying key strengths, limitations,

and gaps to each process.

Photovoice: Goals, current research, and gaps. Photovoice is a process whereby community members take photographs and tell stories about their communities, engage in dialogue,

and present their work through exhibition to policymakers [23]. We view photovoice as the

enactment of hyperlocal identification of risk, vulnerability, and potential for action. Photographs and stories from participants focus on their direct experience in their communities and

represent concerns for the locations that impact their daily lives. As such, photovoice is a central component of our novel community-based participatory approach to stakeholder engagement and climate adaptation planning.

A distinct extension of photo novella [24] that was formally introduced by Wang and Burris

in 1997 [24], this qualitative method of inquiry empowers individuals to capture experiences

in their communities, promote dialogue that produces collective knowledge, and communicate with policymakers and other stakeholders in positions of power [25]. Due to its flexibility

and adaptability, photovoice is particularly well suited for community-based participatory

research [23, 26]. Over the last two decades, photovoice has grown in popularity [26, 27] and

been used in contexts from physical and mental health [27, 28] to community development

[29] and been shown to be accessible to people in a range of age groups and other demographics [30, 31]. Photovoice can be delivered effectively in person or online [32, 33].

An emerging area of interest in photovoice research relates to the environment, emergency

management, and climate resilience planning [34]. In this context, investigators have solicited

the experiences and perspectives of members of rural and indigenous communities recovering

from severe rain and wind events [35], coastal fishing village residents experiencing climatedriven marine ecosystem changes [36], and women in Nepal facing mental health impacts

from drought, water scarcity, and other climate related changes [28]. In work in a coastal setting in Australia, Chandler and Baldwin [37] described the use of photovoice as participants

shared stories demonstrating community understandings of climate change effects and their

capacity as a persuasive tool. Many of these studies have sought to understand the role of social

capital in community resilience, and to explore its place in equitable climate governance [38].

In addition to co-producing new knowledge and developing potential solutions to local

problems, the process of photovoice can build strength and resiliency within individuals

and communities [23], while increasing social capital [38]. Additionally, the photovoice

approach is responsive to the concerns, such as those expressed by members from Isle de Jean

Charles, Louisiana, threatened by sea level rise, regarding the need for, and importance of,

PLOS CLIMATE

Advancing a hyperlocal approach to community engagement in climate adaptation

PLOS Climate | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000041 June 8, 2022 3 / 26

community-led approaches and solutions [39]. As such, photovoice is “highly consistent” with