Date of Award
12-2024
Document Type
Campus Access Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Public Policy
First Advisor
Mark R. Warren
Second Advisor
Michael Johnson
Third Advisor
Antonio Raciti
Abstract
This single holistic case study examines how Latinx activists in East Boston understand and experience the combined effects of gentrification and climate change, as well as how they conceive community-based strategies to address these problems. I integrate bodies of literature on green and climate-driven gentrification, assessing how Max-Neef’s (1991) Fundamental Human Needs (FHN) theory and theories of intersectional organizing can challenge the top-down, elite-driven discourses that have historically dominated economic, social, and now climate resilience policy in the United States. I also propose an expansion of how to apply the FHN theory as a tool to assess community wellbeing. Many urban communities experiencing rapid gentrification also face the negative impacts of climate change. Previous research has shown that climate resiliency policies and practice throughout the United States often serve to protect newly arriving gentrifiers’ property values and the interests of developers rather than addressing the needs of longtime residents, who are frequently low-income people of color (Anguelovski et al., 2016). In this way, climate resilience policies may exacerbate trends of gentrification and displacement (Shi et al., 2016; Shokry et al., 2021). East Boston, a coastal, quasi-insular neighborhood in the City of Boston, typifies this situation (Planas-Carbonell et al., 2023). It has seen rapid demographic changes in terms of socioeconomic status due to an influx of predominantly white gentrifiers, while housing instability disproportionately burdens Latinx residents (Diaz & Torres, 2012; Granados, 2018). Additionally, East Boston is and is likely to remain one of the Boston area’s most at-risk neighborhoods for flooding, due to the combined effects of sea level rise and storm surges (Climate Ready Boston, 2016). Using a community-engaged approach (Warren, 2018) and a qualitative research design involving in-depth, semi-structured interviews, four months of participant observation, and a participatory workshop, I reveal how the interaction of environmental hazards, housing insecurity, and increased discrimination and segregation undermine efforts by the Latinx community in East Boston to promote family stability and wellbeing—particularly for those who face intersecting marginalizations based on age, gender, or income. I also show how Latinx activists and other advocacy groups are educating community residents and developing strategies to improve climate awareness and create genuine community resilience in East Boston through mostly informal grassroots organizing strategies, including a recurring communal activity known as the Green Walks. The case of East Boston Latinx activists using grassroots and intersectional organizing is part of a larger movement in which majority low-income communities of color, severely impacted by climate change and gentrification—and at risk of displacement from both—are demanding a seat at the policymaking table and advocating for equitable climate resilience strategies. I ultimately argue that this type of intersectional organizing, if supported by public guidance and funding, can help shift the discussion about climate resilience from groups that have traditionally controlled the policy agenda toward a more democratic efforts that pursue climate resilience policies that also increase economic opportunities and social mobility, thereby becoming vehicles to address systemic injustice. This approach understands equitable climate resilience as something that, beyond protecting the physical environment, also promotes the wellbeing of the entire community.
Recommended Citation
Belloy Kauak, Patricio Gabriel, "Promoting Equitable Climate Resilience in Gentrifying Communities: A Needs-Based Approach in East Boston" (2024). Graduate Doctoral Dissertations. 1032.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/doctoral_dissertations/1032
Comments
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