CULTURAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND
SEA LEVEL RISE IN EUROPEAN COASTAL AREAS
Thorsten HEIMANN
Leibniz-Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning / Freie Universität Berlin,
Germany, heimann@irs-net.de
Inhabitants of European coastal areas have been adapting to local water conditions
for centuries. Nevertheless, at least since the United Nations Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) began editing its periodic climate reports, local
agents have been confronted with observations and scenarios concerning new
qualities of threats by more rapidly changing water conditions. But ways of perceiving
threats and opportunities as well as preferred practices to cope with them vary locally
and socially. Consequently we have to ask: Which role do differences in knowledge
and culture play in handling with sea-level rise and climate change?
I explore the shared knowledge of agents from spatial planning and coast protection
from European coastal areas. In a quantitative survey agents assess possible threats
and opportunities as well as adequate measures to cope with them. I investigate how
their approvals are interconnected with shared values, worldviews and socio-spatial
identities. More than 800 agents from European coastal municipalities in Germany,
Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland gave their opinion. In my presentation, I will
discuss theoretical and empirical results.
The study is part of a mixed-methods design to explore the constitution of climate
change related knowledge in European coastal areas combining a qualitative media
discourse analysis, expert interviews and a quantitative survey. It is conducted at the
Leibniz-Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning and involves my
doctoral thesis at the Freie Universität Berlin.