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1 – 10 of 142Billie Ann Brotman and Brett Katzman
This paper aims to examine potential causes of bankruptcy as they relate to hurricane damage. Investigate whether hurricanes result in personal bankruptcy filings due to real…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine potential causes of bankruptcy as they relate to hurricane damage. Investigate whether hurricanes result in personal bankruptcy filings due to real property damages. Strengthen existing descriptive results by using fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS).
Design/methodology/approach
Lagged FMOLS model is used with data from states that suffered hurricane damage between 2000 through 2020. FMOLS controls for various financial distresses that can cause bankruptcy filings.
Findings
Bankruptcy is usually filed for within one year of a hurricane. Changes in house prices and hurricane severity were significant indicators of bankruptcy filings. However, the divorce rate, commonly thought of as a primary reason for bankruptcy, is insignificant.
Research limitations/implications
Data was available on a state level for the independent variables. Hurricane damage needed to be financially significant enough for inland flooding to be measurable and influential.
Practical implications
Establishes that financial distress comes from several sources, not just home damage. Financial distress is highly correlated with whether a home was insured. Divorce does not cause bankruptcy filings.
Social implications
Federal flood insurance programs should be reexamined. Having a broader all-risk homeowner policy could reduce the number of households that file for bankruptcy after a hurricane.
Originality/value
Existing research uses descriptive statistics and obtains mixed findings regarding the association between hurricane damage and bankruptcy filings. The FMOLS approach provides clarity about this association.
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Steven B. Scyphers and Susannah B. Lerman
Climate change is a global threat to social, economic, and environmental sustainability. In an increasingly urbanized world, homeowners play an important role in climate…
Abstract
Purpose
Climate change is a global threat to social, economic, and environmental sustainability. In an increasingly urbanized world, homeowners play an important role in climate adaptation and environmental sustainability through decisions to landscape and manage their residential properties.
Methodology/approach
In this chapter, we review the potential impacts of climate change on environmental sustainability in urban ecosystems and highlight the role of urban and suburban residents in conserving biodiversity. We focus extensively on the interactions of homeowners and residential landscapes in urban coastal and desert environments.
Practical implications
Understanding how human-environment interactions are linked with a changing climate is especially relevant for coastal and desert cities in the United States, which are already experiencing visible impacts of climate change. In fact, many homeowners are already making decisions in response to environmental change, and these decisions will ultimately shape the future structure, function and sustainability of these critically important ecosystems.
Social implications
Considering the close relationship between biodiversity and the health and well-being of human societies, understanding how climate change and other social motivations affect the landscaping decisions of urban residents will be critical for predicting and enhancing sustainability in these social-ecological systems.
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Lucy Cradduck, Georgia Warren-Myers and Bianca Stringer
This study aims to provide a development of the courts’ views of climate change risk in planning matters as related to inundation and suggest that valuers and others involved need…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide a development of the courts’ views of climate change risk in planning matters as related to inundation and suggest that valuers and others involved need to be aware of the implications these views have on property matters and valuation processes and reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
This study engages in a legal doctrinal analysis of primary law sources, being Australian case law. It analyses decisions from Queensland, New South Wales and Victorian courts and tribunals, to establish their views of climate change risk for coastal area developments, who bears the risk and responsibility and if risk is shared.
Findings
The analysis reflects that developers bear the onus of proving their proposal meets relevant planning requirements including management and mitigation of climate change risks. However, the risk of developing in “at risk” areas is a shared burden, as local government authorities remain responsible for appropriately assessing applications against those requirements.
Research limitations/implications
This study had several limitations, these included: only matters with a final determination were able to be reviewed and analysed; there is no one Australia-wide planning regime; state laws and policies are different and changing; and disputes are heard in different courts or tribunals, which can impact the weight and importance given to issues and the consistency of approaches.
Practical implications
This research informs valuers of climate change risk issues related to the inundation of new, and re-, developments, and the importance of court decisions as an additional information consideration to inform their valuations.
Originality/value
This paper is significant as it provides an understanding of the Australian courts’ current views on climate change risk, and by extension, the implications and considerations for valuations.
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Robert T. Burrus, Christopher F. Dumas and J. Edward Graham
The purpose of this paper is to contrast the behavior of a US homeowner exposed to hurricane risk with government policies designed to limit hurricane losses. Owners limit these…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contrast the behavior of a US homeowner exposed to hurricane risk with government policies designed to limit hurricane losses. Owners limit these losses by selecting structural improvements or mitigation and wind and flood insurance.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses mitigation costs, hurricane probabilities, and insurance premiums to frame rational cost‐minimizing choices for the homeowner.
Findings
First, even though nationwide hurricane damage costs are large, the cost‐minimizing response for an individual property owner may be to buy no mitigation or structural improvements, no flood insurance and minimal wind insurance, as probabilities of strong hurricanes striking particular locations are extremely low. Second, additional insurance is a less costly defense than structural improvement, even under much higher insurance premiums and hurricane strike probabilities. Third, federally subsidized flood insurance may reduce the effectiveness of government programs encouraging structural mitigation.
Originality/value
The last few years were underscored by the catastrophic damages of Hurricanes‐Katrina, Ike and Wilma. Enormous costs suffered by the public and private sectors could have been avoided with greater mitigation by homeowners. This paper examines the financial incentives for such mitigation. Those incentives are examined in a previously untested framework.
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Lucy Cradduck and Georgia Warren-Myers
This research seeks to understand the potential impact to investors from government responses to climate change risk, as reflected in changes to planning processes made after…
Abstract
Purpose
This research seeks to understand the potential impact to investors from government responses to climate change risk, as reflected in changes to planning processes made after significant weather events.
Design/methodology/approach
The research examines the land planning responses within a select local government authority (“LGA”) area following four significant weather events, in order to identify any changes made, and the impact on future development proposals. The LGA selected is the Central Coast Council, which is a coastal LGA in the Australian State of New South Wales. The research engaged with the publicly accessible records available on the Central Coast Council, Australian Bureau of Meteorology and other websites; and extant literature.
Findings
The research reveals that some adjustments were made by the Central Coast Council, and or the State government, to relevant laws, policies and processes following these events. These changes, however, tended to focus on imposing additional requirements on future development applications, rather than on requiring changes to current structures, or prohibiting further development works.
Research limitations/implications
The research has three limitations: (1) land law in Australia varies, as each State and Territory, and LGA, has specific laws, policies and processes; (2) as laws and policies are subject to change, it was necessary to select points in time at which to engage with those laws and processes; and (3) COVID-19's impact on domestic Australian travel [the authors could not travel interstate] meant only documents available on the Internet were considered, however, not all documents relating to development; or changes to laws and processes were easily accessible online. As the research focussed on one case study area, this may limit the applicability of the results to other areas. However, as extreme events are international, the related issues are a concern in all areas.
Practical implications
This research confirms the results of other extant research, which observed that some risks cannot be properly mitigated, such that any development in an at-risk area remains at risk. It also identifies that more current, accurate and publicly accessible data are required to enable investors to more easily and accurately identify all risks affecting a property.
Originality/value
The research provides a snapshot of one LGA's response to the physical risks arising from climate change events. As investors and other organisations integrate and build up their analysis of climate risks to their portfolios and organisations, governments become more aware of the long-term effects of climate change and consistently with extant research; this research indicates that a greater awareness is required of current risks and action to manage the short-term effects and cost challenges, in addition to the long-term adaptation requirements.
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Keywords
Climate change risks and housing gmarket dynamics.
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB247659
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
Rotimi Joseph, David Proverbs, Jessica Lamond and Peter Wassell
There has been a significant increase in flooding in the UK over the past ten years. During this time, Government policy has moved from investment in flood defences towards…
Abstract
Purpose
There has been a significant increase in flooding in the UK over the past ten years. During this time, Government policy has moved from investment in flood defences towards encouraging property owners to take responsibility for reducing the impact of flooding. One of the ways in which this can be achieved is for homeowners to adapt their properties to flood risk by implementing property level flood risk adaptation (PLFRA) measures. While there has been some attempt to develop an understanding of the benefits of such measures, these previous studies have their limitations in that the intangible benefits have not been fully considered. As such, there remains a need for further development of these studies towards developing a more comprehensive understanding of PLFRA measures. It is against this background the purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual cost benefit analysis (CBA) framework for PLFRA measure. This framework brings together the key parameters of the costs and benefits of adapting properties to flood risk including the intangible benefits, which have so far been overlooked in previous studies.
Design/methodology/approach
A critical review of the standard methods and existing CBA models of PLFRA measures was undertaken. A synthesis of this literature and the literature on the nature of flooding and measures to reduce and eliminate their impacts provides the basis for the development of a conceptual framework of the costs and benefits of PLFRA measures. Within the developed framework, particular emphasis is placed on the intangible impacts, as these have largely been excluded from previous studies in the domain of PLFRA measures.
Findings
The framework provides a systematic way of assessing the costs and benefits of PLFRA measures. A unique feature of the framework is the inclusion of intangible impacts, such as anxiety and ill health, which are known to be difficult to measure. The study proposes to implement one of the stated preference methods (SPM) of valuation to measure these impacts, known as the willingness to pay method, as part of a survey of homeowners. The inclusion of these intangible impacts provides the potential to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the benefit cost ratio (BCR) for different stakeholders. The newly developed CBA conceptual framework includes four principal components: the tangible benefits to insurers; the tangible benefits to the government; the tangible benefits to homeowners; and the intangible benefits to homeowners.
Originality/value
This tool offers the potential to support government policy concerned with increasing the uptake of PLFRA measures through increasing the information available to homeowners and thereby supporting the decision-making process.
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This paper reviews the relationship between property and the changing coastal environment. It looks at issues around the mismatch between the protection of private property rights…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reviews the relationship between property and the changing coastal environment. It looks at issues around the mismatch between the protection of private property rights implicit in our property law, which assumes stability and permanence, and the protection of public rights and environmental values expected of coastal land, which is increasingly vulnerable to climate change hazard. Issues of retreat from the coast, perhaps with compensation and incentives, will need to be dealt with.
Design/methodology/approach
New Zealand situations and examples are used to illustrate the conflicts between secure property rights and changing coastal land.
Findings
The effects of climate change on coastal land will be significant. This era of environmental degradation and climate change will require a significant re-ordering of property law. Changes in coastal land will require property owners to adapt their use and occupation of the coastal zone, if necessary by retreating. Similarly, local authorities will need to be proactive in planning for coastal land changes.
Social implications
Property will need to be re-imagined to support public and environmental goals for the coast.
Originality/value
This paper extends other discussions about how property law and the protection of property rights is a barrier to implementing climate change responses.
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Gracie Irvine, Natasha Pauli, Renata Varea and Bryan Boruff
The Ba River catchment and delta on the island of Viti Levu, Fiji, supports a wealth of livelihoods and is populated by diverse communities who are living with an increased…
Abstract
The Ba River catchment and delta on the island of Viti Levu, Fiji, supports a wealth of livelihoods and is populated by diverse communities who are living with an increased frequency and intensity of hydro-meteorological hazards (floods, cyclones and droughts). Participatory mapping as part of focus group discussions is a tool that can be used to elucidate communities’ understanding of the differing impacts of multiple hazards, as well as the strategies used to prepare and respond to different hazards. In this chapter, the authors present the results of qualitative research undertaken with members of three communities along the Ba River, from the Nausori highlands to the coastal mangroves, with a particular focus on recent floods (2009, 2012) and Tropical Cyclone Winston (2016). The communities draw on a wide range of livelihood strategies from fishing and agriculture to tourism and outside work. Natural hazard events vary in their impact on these livelihood strategies across the landscape and seascape, so that community members can adjust their activities accordingly. The temporal ‘signatures’ of ongoing impacts are also variable across communities and resources. The results suggest that taking a broad, landscape (and seascape) approach to understanding how communities draw livelihoods is valuable in informing effective and inclusive adaptation strategies for environmental change. Furthermore, documenting how the landscape is used in a mapped output may be a valuable tool for future social impact assessment for resource extraction activities.
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Climate impacts are a significant challenge in slums and informal settlements, most of which are located along the coast. This article aims to show coping strategies and flood…
Abstract
Purpose
Climate impacts are a significant challenge in slums and informal settlements, most of which are located along the coast. This article aims to show coping strategies and flood adaptation opportunities through the case study of a coastal slum in Lagos, Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-method approach is used in Idi-Araba settlement, Oworonshoki, Lagos – the case study area. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews with 15 purposively selected residents and a survey (sample size = 300 residents). A town hall meeting was convened to disseminate the findings and gather feedback from the community.
Findings
Being an informally developed settlement, flooding affects the poor-quality buildings – a situation made worse by absence of infrastructure and services. Coping with flooding involves structural strategies (raising building’s foundation, re-roofing, sand-filling the surrounding, etc.), failed attempt through green infrastructure, nonstructural measures through dietary pattern, dressing, etc. These measures emanate from self-help and community efforts, attesting to notable social capital in the study area. They are minimally effective and limited, which highlights adaptation gaps and opportunities.
Research limitations/implications
This study calls for transformative adaptation, beyond the current coping and maladaptation. It argues that local strategies need to meet with innovative substantive external initiatives from the state and third sector.
Originality/value
This study considers the single case of a coastal settlement in Lagos. This focus allowed detailed examination within a representative settlement, much unlike city-wide, cross-settlement considerations in many other studies. It provides additional empirical evidence on limitations of self-help flood coping measures and adaptation prospects in the often overlooked low-income, informal urban sector.
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