RAPID: Collaborative Research: Hurricane Sandy, Disaster Recovery, and the Seeds of Urban Transformation

这一快速反应研究项目调查了飓风桑迪对新泽西州和纽约严重受损社区未来沿海发展的影响。这项研究借鉴了社会生态转型理论的新创新，检验了关键转型或政权转型可以由外部冲击事件(如重大自然灾害)引发的假设。使用过渡框架，该研究探讨了飓风桑迪和对飓风造成的严重风暴潮破坏的反应是否创造了可能导致纽约-新泽西州(NY-NJ)大都会地区沿海地带居住模式转变的条件。这项研究需要对新泽西州和纽约州四个受影响严重的沿海社区(每个州两个)的个人财产和企业主、市、县、州和联邦各级的政府官员以及非政府组织(NGO)正在考虑或正在采取的反应和行动的类型和特征进行记录和分析。将过渡框架应用于对飓风桑迪的短期后果所采取的应对措施的评估，提供了一个独特的机会，可以促进对极端灾害事件如何在大城市区域的脆弱和危险地区引发根本的社会生态系统变化的理论和应用的理解。该项目有助于从根本上了解随着气候变化而出现的新型灾害事件可能如何影响美国城市化地区的沿海发展模式。在美国国内和全球范围内，减少灾害风险的政策和战略都强调从过去的事件中吸取教训，以便了解未来应该避免什么。然而，越来越多的人认识到气候的非平稳性，迫使从当地社区到联邦政府等各级工作人员以不同的方式看待飓风桑迪和其他类似的极端事件。特别是，越来越多的人认识到，沿海财产、基础设施和更大的相互关联的城市系统不能仅仅为了减少对最后一次事件的脆弱性而重建，重建工作必须允许未来有更大的复原力。这项研究提供了关于在大型沿海城市系统中促进或阻碍韧性的因素的宝贵信息。研究结果将通过向地方和区域利益攸关方公开介绍以及通过政策文件和研究文章传播。关于培训机会，该研究促进了罗格斯大学和纽约市立大学的研究生在快速应对气候变化影响和适应评估方面的培训。

This RAPID response research project investigates the impact of Hurricane Sandy on future coastal development in heavily damaged communities in New Jersey and New York. Drawing from new innovations in socio-ecological transition theory, the study tests the hypothesis that that critical transitions or regime shifts can be precipitated by external shocks events, such as major natural disasters. Using a transition framework, the study explores whether Hurricane Sandy and the responses to the severe storm surge damage from the hurricane have created conditions that may lead to a transformation of settlement patterns of the New York-New Jersey (NY-NJ) Metropolitan Region coastal zone. Research for the study entails documentation and analysis of the types and character of responses and actions that are being considered or are just underway by individual property and business owners, government officials at the municipal, county, state, and federal levels, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in a representative set of four heavily impacted coastal communities in New Jersey and New York (two in each state). The application of a transition framework to the assessment of responses taken in the short-term aftermath of Hurricane Sandy presents a unique opportunity to advance theoretical and applied understanding of how extreme disaster events set in motion fundamental, socio-ecological system shifts within vulnerable and at risk areas of large metropolitan regions. This project contributes to fundamental understanding of how new types of disaster events emerging with climate change might affect coastal development patterns in urbanized areas of the United States. Within the United States and globally, disaster risk reduction policies and strategies have emphasized using lessons from the past events in order to understand what should be avoided in the future. Yet growing recognition of the non-stationarity of the climate is compelling individuals operating at all levels, from local communities to the federal government, to look at Hurricane Sandy and other similar extreme events in a different way. In particular, there is growing recognition that coastal properties, infrastructure, and larger interconnected, urban systems cannot be rebuilt with the simple goal of reducing vulnerability to the last event and that the rebuilding effort must allow for much greater resilience in the future. This study provides invaluable information about factors that promote or hinder resilience within large, coastal urban systems. Results of the study are to be disseminated via public presentations to local and regional stakeholders and through policy documents and research articles. With respect to traineeship opportunities, the study facilitates the training of graduate students at Rutgers University and City University of New York in rapid response climate change impact and adaptation assessment.