Buffalo: Where Community Resilience is Climate Resilience

Abstract

As a city that will largely be shielded by climate change’s most devastating impacts, Buffalo may become a climate haven, attracting people escaping from more impacted locales. These flows are highly uncertain, and Buffalo has focused its resiliency efforts on traditional climate adaptation and economic development. However, the city can work to build social capital and community resilience, strengthening Buffalo’s ability to face emerging climate and migration events. Any recommendations to improve resilience should adapt to uncertainty through flexibility and deliver short-term and long-term benefits. Buffalo should engage in community-driven resilience planning to identify localized needs and encourage neighborhood-level social cohesion. The city should also adopt a suite of affordable housing policies to prevent displacement and further maintain the social fabric of Buffalo’s neighborhoods.

Publication
City Resiliency and Climate Change: A Report from the 2020 Inter-Policy School Summit and the Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program

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