Under this section of the hub you can find a diverse set of resources about Healthy Adaptations to inform your research or practice and learn about global interventions, their successes and challenges.
Resources take a range of different forms including research papers, policy briefs, reports, case studies, videos, and podcasts.
A clear, accessible summary of how climate change affects health, safety, place, self, and belonging — and why it matters for well-being and fair, inclusive adaptation.
Date: 14/10/25
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A review of eight U.S. buyout programs suggests that buyouts, as practiced, lack transparency, which may increase public distrust of the process and reduce participation.
A case study of the health and social impacts of flooding in Carlisle, UK, in 2005
A review of literature incorporating public participation and citizen engagement in climate change adaptation since 1992 reveals lexical, temporal, and spatial distribution dynamics of research on the topic.
Koslov et al. (2021) draw attention to instances where supported relocation can be beneficial. Their study on the impact of buyout schemes on the mental health of people affected by Hurricane Sandy shows that rebuilding can lead to higher levels of stress compared to those who were financially supported to move elsewhere. Importantly, they show how the type of support offered and the process of relocation has implications for the success of these adaptation strategies. Leadership, co-management and participatory processes in relocation projects have also been demonstrated to matter for broader community resilience in new settlements. For example, work by Jamshed et al. (2018) in Pakistan following the extensive floods of 2010 show that NGO led relocation resulted in better community outcomes compared to plans led by government agencies. Ajibade et al.’s (2022) review of managed retreat programmes emphasises that plans based on equity and justice predict better outcomes for relocated populations than those based on efficiency based metrics.
Financial mechanisms, such as insurance can support a living-with-risk approach enabling people to stay in place when threatened with flood risk and to recover after a disaster event. When insurance mechanisms are present they can support responses to flood risk, both proactively in providing a sense of security and in the recovery period by providing for the financial cost of repairs. This is suggestive of the importance of insurance companies’ roles in shaping health and wellbeing in climate adaptation, and identifiable as an area where processes could be designed to lessen negative mental health impacts.
A study of public responses in Hokkaido, for example, documents the desire for local communities to resist concrete structures, and the potential to integrate different types of adaptation strategies that reflect concerns about wellbeing and allowing the sightline of the sea to remain. Similarly, populations that had to evacuate following the tsunami had better levels of mental health when they were relocated to areas where forests were part of coastal defences compared to those located near concrete infrastructure
Nurhidayah and McIlgorm (2019) show that in Indonesia the legal framework for adaptation to sea level rise does not fully acknowledge the burden of adapting on communities, they suggest that a more inclusive social justice approach is needed increasing involvement of local people in adaptation planning to improve adaptation outcomes.
Clarke et al., highlight the importance of incorporating place-based identities into adaptation planning and consultation for wellbeing outcomes and the wider sustainability of interventions.
Find definitions for terms that are frequently used in the Healthy Adaptations Hub.
| Terminology | Definition |
|---|---|
| Affect | People’s emotional evaluation of experiences of everyday life. Affective responses to flood interventions are important for understanding the social consequences of adaptations and how these are distributed. Affective responses are also important for galvanising support for adaptation policies because of the way people can influence how they interpret social situations and their intended and actual behaviours. |
| Affective wellbeing | People’s emotional evaluation of everyday life experiences in terms of their preferences versus reality. |
| Place making | [Definition to come] |
The Healthy Adaptations Hub showcases research from a range of projects that have been undertaken by social scientists, health economists, demographers, epidemiologists, and hydrologists across multiple universities (see Underpinning Research for details on who’s been involved).
The Hub showcases a series of resources to support sustainable, health-focused climate risk adaptation, addressing mortality risk and other multi-faceted health impacts.
The Hub has been informed by underpinning research carried out as part of multiple projects addressing different aspects of these issues.
Get in touch with the Healthy Adaptations Team at:
Catherine Butler (University of Exeter) c.butler@exeter.ac.uk | Neil Adger (University of Exeter) n.adger@exeter.ac.uk | Stacey Heath (Open University) stacey.heath@open.ac.uk