Developing Location-Based Communication and Public Engagement Strategies to Build Resilient Coastal Communities

Project Summary

This project aims to advance our knowledge of the human factors that promote individual and collective actions for building community resilience against the threat of flooding, erosion, and sea-level rise. Specifically, the project invited residents from the Town of Fairfield and the City of Bridgeport to share their beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors to build a resilient coastal community. Questions help assess communication and engagement strategies from two ongoing resilience projects in these different Connecticut coastal locations. Goals of this CIRCA funded research project include:

Evaluate community stakeholder response to the planned resilience project as the basis for developing and assessing recommended communication and engagement strategiess.
Recommend tailored communication strategies aimed at motivating community stakeholders to support the planned resilience projects.
Recommend tailored engagement strategies aimed at empowering community stakeholders.

The lessons learned suggest that the notion of a resilient community should be conceptualized as a multidimensional construct, if the goal is to build and strengthen the capacity, motivation, and resolve of community members to reduce the risk stemming from climate change.