Beyond Prediction: Climate Change Adaptation, Science & Technology Studies (STS), and Transformational Change

Abstract

Climate change adaptation is a priority for researchers, policymakers, and the public. Adaptation practices, however, have largely failed to keep pace with climate change risks and deliver the systemic changes required to reduce vulnerability. Critical scholarship has focused on conventional planning and decision-making processes to explain the inadequate and inequitable outcomes of adaptation. This thesis applies Science and Technology Studies (STS) theories as a complementary means of explaining such outcomes. Chapter 1 introduces the stakes of adaptation, the concerns brought by critical adaptation scholars, and the potential benefits of STS for advancing adaptation practice. Chapter 2 identifies four themes in STS through a literature review: representations, boundaries, politics and participation, and the future. These demonstrate how STS can enrich adaptation studies' explanations for why insufficient adaptation persists. Chapter 3 presents a case study that applies STS concepts to explain the structure and outcomes of a participatory adaptation planning initiative in Washington State's North Olympic Peninsula region. Key findings, drawn from twenty-six interviews with planning organizers and participants and an analysis of planning documents, illustrate how adaptation's meaning in practice was tied to its creation in broader social and institutional settings. The thesis synthesizes how STS can both benefit critical adaptation studies and advance the broader mission of effective adaptation.