Weathering Inequality: The Racial Stratification of Relocation as Climate Adaptation Following Major Environmental Hazards
| dc.contributor.advisor | Elliott, James R | en_US |
| dc.creator | Priest, Anthony Alexander | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-05-30T21:05:51Z | en_US |
| dc.date.created | 2025-05 | en_US |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-04-25 | en_US |
| dc.date.submitted | May 2025 | en_US |
| dc.date.updated | 2025-05-30T21:05:51Z | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | Climate change is intensifying environmental hazards, exacerbating inequalities, and making relocation a critical, yet potentially unequal, adaptation strategy. Existing research, often limited by aggregate data, overlooks how racial stratification shapes community- and household-level mobility post-disaster. This research addresses this gap by examining nuanced relocation patterns following major hurricanes, using unique longitudinal consumer data combined with high resolution flood and wind hazard metrics. This research involves three distinct analyses. First, examining community relocation rates following Hurricane Harvey's flooding in Harris County, TX reveals persistently higher relocation occurring only in majority Black, Hispanic, or Asian block groups facing extreme flooding. Second, investigating whether post-Harvey movers relocated to areas with lower future flood risk finds that the capacity to reduce risk is significantly stratified by the racial composition of households’ origin communities, even following severe impacts. Third, broadening the focus beyond a single event, an analysis of household relocation and instability following wind impacts from four major hurricanes demonstrates that storm intensity effects are moderated by the racial composition of households’ origin communities, creating divergent and potentially unequal pathways. Collectively, these chapters demonstrate that vulnerability and adaptive capacity – encompassing community-level relocation rates, household ability to reach safer destinations, and patterns of relocating versus instability within individual households – are deeply shaped by racialized spatial inequalities. Findings challenge narratives of relocation as a universally accessible or effective adaptation solution, revealing how racial inequality structures mobility patterns and outcomes across different hazard types and geographic scales, thereby underscoring the urgent need for equitable climate adaptation. | en_US |
| dc.embargo.lift | 2031-05-01 | en_US |
| dc.embargo.terms | 2031-05-01 | en_US |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1911/118525 | en_US |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.subject | Climate Change | en_US |
| dc.subject | Environmental Inequality | en_US |
| dc.subject | Natural Disasters | en_US |
| dc.subject | Residential Relocation | en_US |
| dc.title | Weathering Inequality: The Racial Stratification of Relocation as Climate Adaptation Following Major Environmental Hazards | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
| dc.type.material | Text | en_US |
| thesis.degree.department | Sociology | en_US |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Sociology | en_US |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Rice University | en_US |
| thesis.degree.level | Doctoral | en_US |
| thesis.degree.name | Doctor of Philosophy | en_US |