New Grant: Preventing local conflicts over storm surge protection
Assistant professor Kristoffer Albris has received a 2.9 million grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark’s (DFF) pool for green research.
The project will provide a nationwide mapping of the conflicts that can arise when municipalities and other authorities implement coastal protection projects in response to the increased risk of storm surges. There is often considerable local disagreement about which forms of protection are preferable. Landowner associations, citizens as well as associations and interest organisations can have views that differ from that of the authorities.
Using a mix of ethnographic and social data science methods, the project will examine which specific issues actually create the conflicts – e.g. building dikes or walls, which decrease the value of residential areas – but also uncover how the conflicts develop and in which forums they play out.
The goal is thus to provide a set of recommendations and suggestions as to how citizens, municipalities and other authorities can deal with disagreements in the future, which might mitigate the risk of protection plans being postponed to the detriment of homeowners. The aim is thus to make a substantial contribution to climate adaptation research in Denmark.
15 more projects from other parts of the UCPH have received grants in this round. Read more about the awards on the DFF website (in Danish only): https://dff.dk/aktuelt/nyheder/ny-gron-forskning-stottet-med-105-millioner-kroner