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Relationships To Action: Sustained Networks Create Fair And Accountable Adaptation In US Coastal Frontlines Across 32 Cases

Research Team: Bernadette Baird-Zars (First Author), Hellas Lee, Amelia Ding, Victoria Sanders, Mike Petriello, Jacqueline M. Klopp, Annel Hernandez, Paul Gallay

Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Annual Conference

October 24, 2025

Abstract * Co-Authors and Affiliations

Community-based organizations (CBOs) in frontline coastal communities grapple with social and environmental injustices compounded by growing climate change risks. In response, many CBOs have developed deep expertise in climate adaptation tailored to their local communities. Yet these groups are often effectively excluded from resilience planning processes that tend to be top-down and involve perfunctory and at times performative consultations. This paper asks: What do community leaders seek from adaptation planning, and how do they recommend such processes be improved? Drawing on the experiences of ten CBOs in coastal New York and New Jersey, the majority representing BIPOC environmental justice communities, we explore community-driven priorities for coastal resilience planning outcomes and processes.

We conducted structured 60-90 minute interviews with ten CBO leaders between February-March 2022, collaboratively completed an iterative content analysis of the interview data and community plans, and workshopped core findings in multiple sessions and conversations with participating CBOs. CBO leaders had consensus on resilience planning priorities: they oppose top-down approaches where planners bring a predetermined agenda and seek true partnership through a relational approach that values grassroots perspectives to co-produce equitable and just strategies to address climate risk. Recommendations for decision-makers center on the need to recognize existing community-led plans, resource community capacity for empowerment in planning processes, and act with transparency to foster trust, partnership and co-planning with communities. Lessons for researchers seeking to support community empowerment in resilience planning include the need to establish lasting and mutually supportive relationships with community partners to enable knowledge co-production.

This abstract is derived from an as-of-yet unpublished research paper of the same name coauthored by nine scholars and practitioners associated with the Resilient Coastal Communities Project (RCCP), a collaboration of the Columbia Climate School and the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance. These scholars and practitioners are: Bernadette Baird-Zars, Rutgers University; Paul Gallay, Columbia Climate School; Annel Hernandez, Columbia School of International Public Affairs; Jacqueline Klopp, Columbia Climate School; Eunice Ko, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance; Hannah Lin, Columbia Climate School; Aya Morris, Columbia Climate School and Massey University; Victoria Sanders, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance; and, Alexandra Scanlon, Columbia Climate School.

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Introduction: The Resilient Coastal Communities Project (RCCP)

RCCP is a partnership between Columbia Climate School and the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance

RCCP seeks to foster actionable, equitable solutions to flood risks along with complementary benefits like habitat restoration, job creation and more empowered communities
RCCP Addresses the challenges of coastal resilience through:

Iterative engaged research
Support for community empowerment in public planning
Publications, workshops & other convenings

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We asked 10 environmental and climate justice organizations in NY/NJ: what’s working and what isn’t, when it comes to coastal resilience planning?*

* El Puente, GOLES, Guardians of Flushing Bay, Ironbound Community Corporation, Newtown Creek Alliance, New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, RISE, Staten Island Urban Center, The Point CDC, UPROSE.

RCCP Research in 2022:

“Building Partnerships for Inclusive Climate Resiliency”

We followed up with interviewees (twice) to ensure accountability, trust & accuracy
Our findings have been shared through working papers, journal submissions, agency dialogues, conferences, etc

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Stop rushing public engagement in resilience planning
Provide financial support for effective community engagement
Assign agency staff support for dialogue, accountability and empowerment
Transform one-off “public comment periods” into ongoing collaborative planning exercises
Put communities “at the center” of the planning process.

2022 Research Findings/Recommendations

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RCCP’s Current Research: What Makes Planning Spaces Fair and Accountable?

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What Makes A Planning Space Fair and Accountable: Study Methodology

Questions co-produced by RCCP team
22 interviews, semi-structured, represented 32 cases
Snowball sampling
Content, institutional analysis
Triangulation between researchers + team members
Review and prioritization of findings by practitioner-participants

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Fair And Accountable Space Research: Interviewees

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Community-Based

El Puente
Red Hook Initiative
Healthy Gulf
Gullah Geechee Nation
Brotherhood Sister Sol
South Bronx Unite
UPROSE

Non-Profit

Environmental Policy Innovation Center
Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX)
Climate Resilient Communities
Miami Waterkeeper
Wetlands Watch

Government

Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

Academic

FloodNet/FloodWatch
Queens College and CUNY Graduate Center
Albany State University of New York

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Fair And Accountable Space Research: Interview Questions

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Resilience planning must center trust, collaboration, and relationship building over transactional, extractive process.
Despite evidence that lasting resilience can only be developed with communities, not for them, support for truly co-creative processes remains woefully inadequate.
Five mutually reinforcing roleplayers (facilitators, educators, mediators, challengers, and mentors) make for fair and accountable planning spaces. They are the human infrastructure needed for truly inclusive resilience planning.

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Fair And Accountable Spaces: Findings

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