| dc.description.abstract | Heat stress impacts people differently, with vulnerable groups being especially burdened. Heat stress is increasing in urban areas due to both the removal of green spaces by urbanisation and increased extreme weather events due to climate change. Vulnerability factors such as exposure, sensitivity, and lack of adaptive capacity lead to unequal impacts on different groups, such as outside workers, seniors, or people with low socioeconomic status. Additionally, mitigation through climate adaptation measures often leads to benefiting those with knowledge and resources, increasing inequality and leaving vulnerable groups behind. In the Netherlands, measures against heat stress are gaining attention, as an increase in hospital admissions and mortality is foreseen in the future. A recent national approach was published, aiming to deal with heat stress within the domains of Health, Housing, and Habitat. These plans recognise that vulnerable groups often bear the burden of heat. This is also recognised in the cities of Rotterdam and Utrecht. These cities try to reduce the unequal impact of climate change by using justice in policies. As justice considerations and implementation in heat stress policies proved to be a gap in scientific literature, this research aims to analyse and compare how justice for vulnerable groups in urban climate adaptation measures against heat stress are considered, by reflecting on urban adaptation policies using the three dimensions of environmental justice. Justice principles of distributive, procedural, and recognition justice related to vulnerable groups were gathered and analysed on the extent of consideration and implementation of these principles. This was done for the cases of Utrecht and Rotterdam, for heat stress policies regarding the domains of Health, Housing and Habitat. Data from policy documents, interviews and participatory methods were gathered and coded and then compared through a comparative case study design. The results showed that while overall distributive justice was the most considered, Rotterdam showed more considerations and implementations for recognition justice by raising awareness of the unequal impact of heat on different and often unrecognised groups. Overall, most measures against heat stress were not specifically targeting vulnerable groups. Health, however, showed the most implementation and consideration of distributive, recognitional and procedural justice, especially in Rotterdam. Here, a neighbourhood tailored heat plan showed how strategies for reaching vulnerable groups and including them in the process. The results also showed additional recognised groups that were not found in the literature study, which are seen as less represented in heat stress policies. Overall, the research contributes to the broader debate of who the winners and losers of climate adaptation are. | |
| dc.subject | The subject of this thesis is about exploring ways on how justice is percieved and pursued in climate adaptation policies, focussing on heat adaptation policies in particular. It looks into how and to what extent justice is considered for groups that are vulnerable to heat, using principles of justice of the distributive, recognition, and procedural dimensions. It looks in to heat stress policies in Rotterdam and Utrecht, as these are cases where environmental justice is put into practice. | |
