The world is rapidly becoming urbanised, with the boom hitting Europe in particular, with 74% of the population already living within urban regions in 2018 (United Nations, p.01) and following the urbanisation trends witnessed globally. This boom in urbanisation however brings with it a plethora of challenges specifically in relation to global climate change, with climate risks exacerbating vulnerability of urban dwellers. Focus on research thus far have surrounded the physical characteristics that increase a cities vulnerability to climate change, with limited focus on the socio- economic factors that ultimately significantly increase vulnerability to the impact of climate change. To understand the extent of socio-spatial vulnerability to climate change, the study aimed to establish which factors were the most critical in influencing this social vulnerability as well as how the vulnerability varied spatially in wards and temporally within Liverpool between 2011 and 2021. Underpinned by the capabilities approach, Lindley et. al’s. (2011) framework was utilised to establish how specific vulnerabilities of different communities can coincide with the spatial distribution and exposure of various hazards to create a ‘climate disadvantage’ . Social vulnerability scores of the critical factors drawn from the literature, were spatially mapped on ArcGIS for comparison between wards as well as temporally between 2011 and 2021. Factors were also condensed into indicator groups of correlating factors influencing social vulnerability. The temporal results showed an overall decrease in social vulnerability to climate change across the wards of Liverpool in the ten years, with limited exceptions. Factors relating to the ability to utilise information on the preparation, response and recovery to climate disasters were the most influential on social vulnerability within Liverpool. Spatial changes across the wards were not significant between 2011 and 2021, however variance between the wards was drastic with high inequality.
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Dreyer, Cameron
Rights Holders: Dreyer, Cameron Supervisors: Skipping, Emma
School of the Built Environment
MSc Infrastructure Planning and Sustainable Development
2023
© Dreyer, Cameron Published by Oxford Brookes UniversityAll rights reserved