IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i12p2236-d121501.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A New Approach to Identify Social Vulnerability to Climate Change in the Yangtze River Delta

Author

Listed:
  • Yi Ge

    (State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control & Resource Re-use, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China)

  • Wen Dou

    (School of Transportation, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China)

  • Jianping Dai

    (Department of Philosophy, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China)

Abstract

This paper explored a new approach regarding social vulnerability to climate change, and measured social vulnerability in three parts: (1) choosing relevant indicators of social vulnerability to climate change; (2) based on the Hazard Vulnerability Similarity Index (HVSI), our method provided a procedure to choose the referenced community objectively; and (3) ranked social vulnerability, exposure, sensitivity, and adaptability according to profiles of similarity matrix and specific attributes of referenced communities. This new approach was applied to a case study of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region and our findings included: (1) counties with a minimum and maximum social vulnerability index (SVI) were identified, which provided valuable examples to be followed or avoided in the mitigation planning and preparedness of other counties; (2) most counties in the study area were identified in high exposure, medium sensitivity, low adaptability, and medium SVI; (3) four cities, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou were much less vulnerable than others due to their high adaptability; (4) to some extent, there were geographical similarities of SVI, exposure index, sensitivity index, and adaptability index; and (5) the indicator of “Employees in primary industry” related to SVI the most, the indicator of “Renter” related to exposure index (EI) most, the indicator of “Elderly” related to sensitivity index (SI) the most, and the indicator of “Urban residents” relates to adaptability index (AI) most. These results can help decision makers find the focus of their mitigation works, where the efficient of practices will then be improved.

Suggested Citation

  • Yi Ge & Wen Dou & Jianping Dai, 2017. "A New Approach to Identify Social Vulnerability to Climate Change in the Yangtze River Delta," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:12:p:2236-:d:121501
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/12/2236/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/12/2236/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clémence Guillard-Gonçalves & Susan L. Cutter & Christopher T. Emrich & José Luís Zêzere, 2015. "Application of Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) and delineation of natural risk zones in Greater Lisbon, Portugal," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(5), pages 651-674, May.
    2. Nathan Wood & Christopher Burton & Susan Cutter, 2010. "Community variations in social vulnerability to Cascadia-related tsunamis in the U.S. Pacific Northwest," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 52(2), pages 369-389, February.
    3. Sarah Stafford & Jeremy Abramowitz, 2017. "An analysis of methods for identifying social vulnerability to climate change and sea level rise: a case study of Hampton Roads, Virginia," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 85(2), pages 1089-1117, January.
    4. Raamesh Deshpande & Benjamin VanderSluis & Chad L Myers, 2013. "Comparison of Profile Similarity Measures for Genetic Interaction Networks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(7), pages 1-11, July.
    5. Stephanie Chang & Jackie Yip & Shona Zijll de Jong & Rebecca Chaster & Ashley Lowcock, 2015. "Using vulnerability indicators to develop resilience networks: a similarity approach," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 78(3), pages 1827-1841, September.
    6. J. Birkmann & O. Cardona & M. Carreño & A. Barbat & M. Pelling & S. Schneiderbauer & S. Kienberger & M. Keiler & D. Alexander & P. Zeil & T. Welle, 2013. "Framing vulnerability, risk and societal responses: the MOVE framework," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 67(2), pages 193-211, June.
    7. Yi Ge & Haibo Zhang & Wen Dou & Wenfang Chen & Ning Liu & Yuan Wang & Yulin Shi & Wenxin Rao, 2017. "Mapping Social Vulnerability to Air Pollution: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta Region, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-15, January.
    8. Chongming Wang & Brent Yarnal, 2012. "The vulnerability of the elderly to hurricane hazards in Sarasota, Florida," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 63(2), pages 349-373, September.
    9. Frigerio, Ivan & De Amicis, Mattia, 2016. "Mapping social vulnerability to natural hazards in Italy: A suitable tool for risk mitigation strategies," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 187-196.
    10. D. Yoon, 2012. "Assessment of social vulnerability to natural disasters: a comparative study," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 63(2), pages 823-843, September.
    11. Jundong Hou & Jun Lv & Xin Chen & Shiwei Yu, 2016. "China’s regional social vulnerability to geological disasters: evaluation and spatial characteristics analysis," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 84(1), pages 97-111, November.
    12. Yi Ge & Wen Dou & Ning Liu, 2017. "Planning Resilient and Sustainable Cities: Identifying and Targeting Social Vulnerability to Climate Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-19, August.
    13. Baoyin Liu & Yim Siu & Gordon Mitchell & Wei Xu, 2013. "Exceedance probability of multiple natural hazards: risk assessment in China’s Yangtze River Delta," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 69(3), pages 2039-2055, December.
    14. Longfei Han & Youpeng Xu & Guangbo Pan & Xiaojun Deng & Chunsheng Hu & Hongliang Xu & Hongyi Shi, 2015. "Changing properties of precipitation extremes in the urban areas, Yangtze River Delta, China, during 1957–2013," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 79(1), pages 437-454, October.
    15. Susan L. Cutter & Bryan J. Boruff & W. Lynn Shirley, 2003. "Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 84(2), pages 242-261, June.
    16. Christoph Aubrecht & Klaus Steinnocher & Mario Köstl & Johann Züger & Wolfgang Loibl, 2013. "Long-term spatio-temporal social vulnerability variation considering health-related climate change parameters particularly affecting elderly," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 68(3), pages 1371-1384, September.
    17. Yi Ge & Wen Dou & Haibo Zhang, 2017. "A New Framework for Understanding Urban Social Vulnerability from a Network Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-16, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiaojun Huang & Yanyu Li & Yuhui Guo & Dianyuan Zheng & Mingyue Qi, 2020. "Assessing Urban Risk to Extreme Heat in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-17, April.
    2. Yi Chen & Zhicong Ye & Hui Liu & Ruishan Chen & Zhenhuan Liu & Hui Liu, 2021. "A GIS-Based Approach for Flood Risk Zoning by Combining Social Vulnerability and Flood Susceptibility: A Case Study of Nanjing, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-17, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yi Ge & Guangfei Yang & Yi Chen & Wen Dou, 2019. "Examining Social Vulnerability and Inequality: A Joint Analysis through a Connectivity Lens in the Urban Agglomerations of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-19, February.
    2. Yi Ge & Wen Dou & Haibo Zhang, 2017. "A New Framework for Understanding Urban Social Vulnerability from a Network Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-16, September.
    3. Ibolya Török, 2018. "Qualitative Assessment of Social Vulnerability to Flood Hazards in Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-20, October.
    4. Eleonora Giovene di Girasole & Daniele Cannatella, 2017. "Social Vulnerability to Natural Hazards in Urban Systems. An Application in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-17, November.
    5. Yi Ge & Wen Dou & Xiaotao Wang & Yi Chen & Ziyuan Zhang, 2021. "Identifying urban–rural differences in social vulnerability to natural hazards: a case study of China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 108(3), pages 2629-2651, September.
    6. Seth E. Spielman & Joseph Tuccillo & David C. Folch & Amy Schweikert & Rebecca Davies & Nathan Wood & Eric Tate, 2020. "Evaluating social vulnerability indicators: criteria and their application to the Social Vulnerability Index," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 100(1), pages 417-436, January.
    7. Oleksandr Didkovskyi & Giovanni Azzone & Alessandra Menafoglio & Piercesare Secchi, 2021. "Social and material vulnerability in the face of seismic hazard: An analysis of the Italian case," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 184(4), pages 1549-1577, October.
    8. Yi Ge & Wen Dou & Ning Liu, 2017. "Planning Resilient and Sustainable Cities: Identifying and Targeting Social Vulnerability to Climate Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-19, August.
    9. Mohammad Abdul Quader & Amanat Ullah Khan & Matthieu Kervyn, 2017. "Assessing Risks from Cyclones for Human Lives and Livelihoods in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-26, July.
    10. Seunghoo Jeong & D. K. Yoon, 2018. "Examining Vulnerability Factors to Natural Disasters with a Spatial Autoregressive Model: The Case of South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-13, May.
    11. Mohd Idris Nor Diana & Nurfashareena Muhamad & Mohd Raihan Taha & Ashraf Osman & Md. Mahmudul Alam, 2021. "Social Vulnerability Assessment for Landslide Hazards in Malaysia: A Systematic Review Study," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-19, March.
    12. Felix Riede, 2014. "Towards a science of past disasters," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 71(1), pages 335-362, March.
    13. Caroline Michellier & Patrick Pigeon & Francois Kervyn & Eleonore Wolff, 2016. "Contextualizing vulnerability assessment: a support to geo-risk management in central Africa," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 82(1), pages 27-42, May.
    14. Sarah Percival & Richard Teeuw, 2019. "A methodology for urban micro-scale coastal flood vulnerability and risk assessment and mapping," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 97(1), pages 355-377, May.
    15. Uttama Barua & Shahrin Mannan & Ishrat Islam & Mohammad Shakil Akther & Md. Aminul Islam & Tamanna Akter & Raquib Ahsan & Mehedy Ahmed Ansary, 2020. "People’s awareness, knowledge and perception influencing earthquake vulnerability of a community: A study on Ward no. 14, Mymensingh Municipality, Bangladesh," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 103(1), pages 1121-1181, August.
    16. Xuchao Yang & Lin Lin & Yizhe Zhang & Tingting Ye & Qian Chen & Cheng Jin & Guanqiong Ye, 2019. "Spatially Explicit Assessment of Social Vulnerability in Coastal China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-20, September.
    17. Chien-Hao Sung & Shyue-Cherng Liaw, 2021. "Using Spatial Pattern Analysis to Explore the Relationship between Vulnerability and Resilience to Natural Hazards," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-16, May.
    18. Nicolás C. Bronfman & Paula B. Repetto & Nikole Guerrero & Javiera V. Castañeda & Pamela C. Cisternas, 2021. "Temporal evolution in social vulnerability to natural hazards in Chile," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 107(2), pages 1757-1784, June.
    19. Stephanie Chang & Jackie Yip & Shona Zijll de Jong & Rebecca Chaster & Ashley Lowcock, 2015. "Using vulnerability indicators to develop resilience networks: a similarity approach," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 78(3), pages 1827-1841, September.
    20. Mohammad Ilbeigi & Sarath Chandra K. Jagupilla, 2020. "An Empirical Analysis of Association between Socioeconomic Factors and Communities’ Exposure to Natural Hazards," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-13, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:12:p:2236-:d:121501. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.