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1. Spatiotemporal implications of flooding on relocation risk in rural and urban coastal municipalities

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2023.106754  

   Bukvic, A.; Mitchell, A.; Shao, Y.; Irish, J.L. (September 2023, Land Use Policy)

   The research on coastal hazards predicts substantial adverse impacts of chronic and episodic flooding on populated coastal areas. Despite the growing evidence about anticipated flood risks, many coastal communities are still not adapting. The observed disconnect between science on physical impacts and adaptation decisionmaking in part reflects stakeholders’ inability to envision the implications of these impacts on socioeconomic systems and the built environment in their jurisdictions. This inertia is particularly apparent in the discourse on flood-driven displacement and relocation. There is a lack of knowledge about direct and indirect flood impacts on community attributes and services that contribute to relocation decision-making. This study holistically evaluates the flood exposure on municipal features vital for socioeconomic stability, livelihoods, and quality of life across spatiotemporal scales. As such, it uses a more nuanced approach to relocation risk assessment than those solely focused on direct inundation impacts. It measures flood exposure of land use, land cover, and sociocultural and economic dimensions that are important drivers of relocation in selected rural and urban areas. The approach uses a 50-year floodplain to delineate populated coastal locations exposed to 2% Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP) storm surge projections adjusted for 2030, 2060, and 2090 sea level rise (SLR) scenarios. It then evaluates the potential impacts of this flood exposure on different types of land uses and critical socioeconomic assets in rural (Dorchester and Talbot Counties, Maryland, USA) and urban (Cities of Hampton, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA) settings. The results show that some urban land uses, such as open space, military and mixed-use, and rural residential and commercial areas, might experience significantly more flooding. There are also notable differences in the baseline flood exposure and the anticipated rate and acceleration in the future among selected communities with significant implications for relocation planning. 

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2. Exploring the relationship between droughts and rural-to-urban mobility—a mixed methods approach for Pune, India

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2023.1168584  

   Karutz, Raphael; Kabisch, Sigrun (May 2023, Frontiers in Climate)

   Urbanization in the global South is intricately linked with the internal mobility of people and the impacts of climate change. In India, changing precipitation patterns pose pressure on rural livelihoods through the increasing frequency and severity of droughts, contributing to rural-to-urban mobility. At destination, however, insufficient information is available on the complex mobility backgrounds of the new arrivals. We employ a mixed methods approach to investigate mobility patterns to Pune, India, with a special focus on the role of droughts. Combining a household survey with in-depth interviews and monthly precipitation data on district level, we use descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis to show a significant relationship between drought at origin and mobility to Pune. Particularly affected are recent arrivals, migrants of rural origin and from other states, and those currently living in informal areas. The link between droughts and mobility decisions is usually indirect, hidden behind economic conditions such as the loss of agricultural jobs. Paradoxically, migrants affected by droughts at origin face increased flood risk at destination. This risk, however, is often consciously taken in favor of better livelihood opportunities in the city. With climate scenarios projecting increasingly variable precipitation patterns, understanding the climate-mobility-urbanization nexus gains importance, especially for destination hotspots like the city of Pune. 

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3. Protective Factors in the Context of Successful Aging in Urban-Dwelling Alaska Native Elders

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-023-09493-3  

   Kim, Steffi M; Lewis, Jordan P (March 2024, Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology)

   Successful aging in rural Alaska communities has been established as a characteristic best described by reaching “Eldership,” conveying reverence and respect from the community and implying leadership responsibilities. Most Alaska Native (AN) Elders believe that aging successfully or aging well happens within their home communities. However, limited rural resources lead Elders to relocate to urban settings. While protective factors supporting aging well in rural communities have been established, little is known about which factors support aging well after relocation to an urban setting. This exploratory, qualitative, community-based participatory research study explored AN Elder’s (ages 48–84) experiences comparing successful aging within four rural Alaska communities and of Elders who relocated from a rural to an urban community. Thirteen rural-based Elders and 12 urban-based Elders semi-structured interviews were compared to explore how successful aging was experienced similarly and differently in rural and urban settings. To age well in urban Alaska, access to health care services, family, and community engagement were essential. The main challenges for urban Elders involved establishing a sense of community, intergenerational involvement, and the ability to continue traditional ways of living. This research identified challenges, similarities, and differences in aging well in an urban community. The findings of this study inform practices, services, and policies to improve existing urban services and initiate needed urban services to foster successful aging after relocation from remote rural areas into urban communities in Alaska. 

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4. Building Flood Resilience in West Virginia through Community-Engaged Research

   https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2025.2510976  

   Shinn, Jamie E; Bidadian, Behrang; Mahmoudi, Annie; Maxwell, Aaron; Levine, Julian (July 2025, The Professional Geographer)

   Riverine flooding events are expected to become increasingly severe in the coming decades due to climate change, resulting in an urgent need to build flood resilience in underserved areas of the country. West Virginia has some of the highest risk of flooding in the United States, which is often compounded by aging infrastructure and high levels of socioeconomic vulnerability. In June 2016, one storm caused flooding that killed twenty-three people, destroyed or damaged thousands of homes and businesses, and caused $1 billion in damages across the state. Some of the most affected towns have yet to fully recover. This mixed-methods community-engaged research project was the first systematic investigation of lessons learned from the 2016 floods in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, a place devastated by this disaster. Using a county-wide survey, focus groups, and participatory GIS (PGIS), this project resulted in the creation of community-informed geospatial products to communicate flood risk, as well as a set of community-identified recommendations for increasing resilience to future flood disasters. Findings offer critical insights for more effective flood response and recovery in West Virginia and other rural areas of the United States with high riverine flood risk. 

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5. Aging in Flood-Prone Coastal Areas: Discerning the Health and Well-Being Risk for Older Residents

   https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122900  

   Bukvic, Anamaria; Gohlke, Julia; Borate, Aishwarya; Suggs, Jessica (December 2018, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health)

   Coastal communities are increasingly exposed to more intense and frequent hurricanes, accelerated sea-level rise, and prolonged tidal inundation, yet they are often a preferred retirement destination for older adults vulnerable to flooding and extreme weather events. The unique physical and psychosocial challenges of older population age 65 and over may affect their level of preparedness, capacity to cope with, and ability to respond and recover from a hazard event. Despite the clear vulnerabilities of older residents living in high-risk areas when compared to younger coastal populations, there is a lack of empirical research on the integrated flood risks to this population group in the coastal context. This paper provides a holistic assessment of this emerging problem along the U.S. East Coast by measuring the exposure of older population to sea level rise and storm surge in coastal counties. It further evaluates how age-related vulnerabilities differ between rural and urban settings using the case study approach and geospatial and statistical analysis the paper also conducts a review of scientific literature to identify gaps in the current understanding of health and well-being risks to aging populations in coastal communities. The results show that older populations are unevenly distributed along the U.S. East Coast with some states and counties having significantly higher percent of residents age 65 and older living along the shoreline. Many places with larger older populations have other attributes that further shape the vulnerability of this age group such as older housing stock, disabilities, and lower income and that often differ between rural and urban settings. Lastly, our study found that vast majority of research on aging in high-risk coastal locations has been conducted in relation to major disasters and almost none on the recurrent nuisance flooding that is already affecting many coastal communities. 

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