Divergent Residential Pathways from Flood-Prone Areas: How Neighborhood Inequalities Are Shaping Urban Climate Adaptation.

This article examines the socio-spatial patterns of residential resettlement following federally funded buyouts of flood-prone homes in Harris County, Texas, as a form of managed retreat—a climate adaptation strategy aimed at reducing flood risk by relocating homeowners. Introducing a typology based on two dimensions—distance moved from the original home and proximity to similarly resettled neighbors—the study finds that homeowners from more economically and racially privileged neighborhoods tend to relocate closer to their former homes and to one another, facilitating a "collective retreat" that preserves both economic and social values of home. Conversely, residents from less privileged neighborhoods typically move farther away and disperse more individually, resulting in greater disruption to community attachment. These findings highlight how managed retreat policies may inadvertently reinforce social inequities and contribute to processes like climate gentrification, underscoring the need for more equitable approaches to urban climate adaptation.