Flood Risk and Property Rights in Delta Megacities

这项研究项目将分析未来洪水风险意识的增强对位于主要河流三角洲的大城市地区有关产权的法律、政策和规范的影响。调查员将检查这座城市的社会、政治和法律方面，这座城市正在进行大规模和破坏性的规划和基础设施干预，以应对洪水显著增加的预测。该项目将有助于基本了解洪水易发城市出现的政治和法律辩论，一方认为需要限制财产权以实施基础设施改善和执行土地使用法规，另一方则主张加强财产权，以增强社区在缓解洪灾方面的努力。该项目将为关于为减轻洪灾倡议而驱逐和重新安置条件的法律和政策的辩论提供信息。该项目还将有助于关于灾害风险影响城市政治动态的方式的理论辩论。除了印度尼西亚雅加达、泰国曼谷、菲律宾马尼拉、尼日利亚拉各斯和埃及亚历山大等其他大洲的城市外，这些发现还将为美国新奥尔良、波士顿和纽约等受洪水威胁的城市提供新的见解。该项目还将帮助建设基础设施，用于研究美国和其他地方与洪水有关的政策问题和风险管理。尽管大量研究关注与洪水有关的基础设施和治理问题，但对洪水的社会、政治和法律影响的关注相对较少。然而，随着近几十年主要城市洪灾的数量和规模的增加，以及预计未来几十年的进一步增加，许多三角洲城市正在进行政策和规划举措以及政治改革，这对灾害复原力的分布和减灾工作的成本提出了根本问题。产权问题是减灾辩论的一个关键因素，因为这些辩论中讨论的土地、水和人类系统之间的相互作用本质上与谁有什么土地使用权的问题有关。该项目将侧重于对这些问题至关重要的关键问题：国家行为者如何根据洪水风险重新界定财产权？非国家行为者采取了哪些战略来抗辩驱逐和主张自己的权利？法律和制度发生了哪些变化？这些动态互动对城市政治有何影响？在对横跨大三角洲的一个主要大都市的案例研究进行调查时，调查员将审查文件、政策报告和媒体报道，并将与关键行为者进行访谈，以分析与低收入社区的财产权有关的法庭案件，这些社区在政府旨在改善河流排水系统的倡议下面临驱逐。他将使用地理信息系统来评估在努力增加绿地的同时驱逐的空间动态。他还将分析政府报告和计划、学术研究、媒体报道以及通过采访关键利益相关者获得的信息，以评估政府重大洪灾缓解倡议导致的财产权视角的变化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research project will analyze the impact that growing awareness of future flood risk has on laws, policies, and norms concerning property rights in large metropolitan areas located in major river deltas. The investigator will examine social, political, and legal facets of a city that is undertaking massive and disruptive planning and infrastructural interventions in response to projections of significant increases in flooding. This project will contribute to basic understanding of the political and legal debates that emerge in flood-prone cities between those who argue that property rights need to be constrained to implement infrastructure improvements and enforce land-use regulations and those who advocate strengthening property rights to empower community-based efforts at flood mitigation. The project will inform debates about laws and policies concerning the terms of eviction and resettlement for flood mitigation initiatives. The project will also contribute to theoretical debates about the ways that hazard risk impacts dynamics of urban politics. The findings will provide new insights for flood-threatened cities in the United States, such as New Orleans, Boston, and New York, in addition to cities on other continents, such as Jakarta, Indonesia; Bangkok, Thailand; Manila, Philippines; Lagos, Nigeria; and Alexandria, Egypt. The project also will help build infrastructure for research on policy issues related to flooding and risk management in the United States and elsewhere.While substantial research attention has focused on infrastructural and governance questions related to floods, there has been relatively little attention given to the social, political, and legal implications of flooding. With increases in the number and magnitude of major urban floods in recent decades and further increases projected for the coming decades, however, many delta cities are undertaking policy and planning initiatives and political reforms that raise fundamental questions about the distribution of hazard resilience and the costs of mitigation efforts. Questions of property rights constitute a key element in debates over flood mitigation, because the interactions among land, water, and human systems that are under question in these debates are related intrinsically to the question of who has what rights to use land. This project will focus on key questions that are central to these issues: How have state actors sought to redefine property rights in light of flood risk? What strategies have non-state actors pursued to contest eviction and assert their own claims? What legal and institutional changes have resulted? What are the implications of these dynamic interactions for urban politics? In his investigation of a case study of one major metropolis astride a large delta, the investigator will review documents, policy reports, and media accounts, and he will conduct interviews with key actors in order to analyze court cases concerning the property rights of low-income communities that face eviction under government initiatives to "normalize" rivers to improve drainage. He will employ a geographic information system to evaluate the spatial dynamics of eviction accompanying efforts to increase green space. He also will analyze government reports and plans, academic studies, media accounts, and information garnered through interviews with key stakeholders to assess shifting perspectives on property rights resulting from a major government flood mitigation initiative.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.