front cover of Climate Bridge
Climate Bridge
An International Perspective on How to Enact Climate Action at the Government Public Interface
Wolfram Höfer
Rutgers University Press, 2025
Climate change is creating new challenges for spatial and environmental planning on both sides of the Atlantic. Planning and policy must balance moderating climate change impact from rising temperatures, extreme precipitation, and sea level rise with social equity and environmental justice. Climate Bridge compares New Jersey and the German Ruhr region to build an international perspective on how to enact climate action at the government-public interface. The book grew from fifteen years of collaboration between scholars in New Jersey and Germany through summer programs, a landscape architecture design studio, internships for Rutgers students, and joint publications. Notably, settlement patterns and brownfield issues reveal similarities between the underserved in both regions. The first section, “Tools and Process,” compares international environmental planning approaches and outlines different approaches to common problems. “Uncertainty and Space” presents case studies that highlight adaptation strategies for uncertainties caused by climate change. Finally, “Place and Connectedness” reminds us of our dependence on ecological systems for physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Contributors to this landmark volume include planners, designers, scholars, public administrators, and decision-makers on both sides of the Atlantic. Together, the chapters bring interdisciplinary approaches and diverse perspectives to the environmental, economic, political, and social dimensions of planning and design in the context of climate change.
 
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front cover of Taking Chances
Taking Chances
The Coast after Hurricane Sandy
O'Neill, Karen M.
Rutgers University Press, 2016
Humanity is deeply committed to living along the world’s shores, but a catastrophic storm like Sandy—which took hundreds of lives and caused many billions of dollars in damages—shines a bright light at how costly and vulnerable life on a shoreline can be. Taking Chances offers a wide-ranging exploration of the diverse challenges of Sandy and asks if this massive event will really change how coastal living and development is managed. 
 
Bringing together leading researchers—including biologists, urban planners, utilities experts, and climatologists, among others—Taking Chances illuminates reactions to the dangers revealed by Sandy. Focusing on New Jersey, New York, and other hard-hit areas, the contributors explore whether Hurricane Sandy has indeed transformed our perceptions of coastal hazards, if we have made radically new plans in response to Sandy, and what we think should be done over the long run to improve coastal resilience. Surprisingly, one essay notes that while a large majority of New Jerseyans identified Sandy with climate change and favored carefully assessing the likelihood of damage from future storms before rebuilding the Shore, their political leaders quickly poured millions into reconstruction. Indeed, much here is disquieting. One contributor points out that investors scared off from further investments on the shore are quickly replaced by new investors, sustaining or increasing the overall human exposure to risk. Likewise, a study of the Gowanus Canal area of Brooklyn shows that, even after Sandy swamped the area with toxic flood waters, plans to convert abandoned industrial lots around the canal into high-density condominiums went on undeterred. By contrast, utilities, emergency officials, and others who routinely make long-term plans have changed operations in response to the storm, and provide examples of adaptation in the face of climate change.
 
Will Sandy be a tipping point in coastal policy debates—or simply dismissed as a once-in-a-century anomaly? This thought-provoking collection of essays in Taking Chances makes an important contribution to this debate.
 
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