People And Climate: How Social Infrastructure Powers Adaptation

This Open Access book explores the physical and societal consequences of climate events such as heatwaves, drought, heavy rainfall and rising sea levels, and how they can lead to social disruption. The impact of climate events extends beyond damage and casualties. Climate disruption may result in people losing trust in the government and each other, in communities falling apart, as well as in increasing poverty.  Conversely, the social context partly determines how well people are able to cope with climate events. Those with a strong network or sufficient resources are generally less likely to encounter severe problems and more likely to recover from such disruptions. The book argues that Dutch climate adaptation policy currently pays too little attention to these social factors. The focus of Dutch policies and practices is on physical protection measures. Although these are essential, they are not sufficient. The authors argue that climate resilience in the Netherlands could improve if the government also invests in the country’s social infrastructure, which enables people to look out for each other, increases mutual trust, and offers perspectives for action.

Dr. ir. Ramy El-Dardiry is a senior research fellow at the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR). He studied applied physics (MSc) at the University of Twente and received his PhD from the University of Amsterdam. After spending several years in the private sector, he became a researcher at the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) focusing on innovation and digitalization. Ramy is also an author of fiction. He published several short stories and a novel.  

Prof. dr. Paul ’t Hart is council member and vice chairman of the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR). He is also professor of public administration at Utrecht University. His main research interests are public order and security, crises and crisis management, political and public sector leadership, political psychology, the relationships between politicians and public servants, government officials, learning from the successes and failures in public governance, public policymaking, organizations and partnerships, and Australian politics and governance.  

Dr. Victor Toom is a research fellow at the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR). He holds a PhD in the social sciences from the University of Amsterdam (2010). He held academic positions in England and Germany (2010-2018). He is an interdisciplinary scholar, with many publications in, amongst others, the British Journal of Criminology; Forensic Science International: Genetics; Science, Technology & Human Values; Security Dialogue; Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences; and Medical Anthropology.  

Dr. Annick de Vries is senior research fellow at the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR). She studied General Economics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and obtained her PhD in Public Administration from the University of Twente. She then served as a consultant at Twynstra Gudde, where she advised public- and private-sector organisations. In 2013, she started working at the Rathenau Institute, where her portfolio included energy policy and energy transition. From 2016 to 2019, Annick worked at the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.  

Prof. dr. Suzanne J.M.H. Hulscher is a council member of the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) since 2019. Also, she leads the cluster in Marine and Fluvial systems, department of Civil Engineering & Management at the University of Twente. She studied Theoretical Physics at Utrecht University and received her PhD at the Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Studies, Utrecht University on work partly done at Deltares. Her work mainly involves rivers, coasts and offshore areas. Herein she investigates physical processes as well as adaptation measures in these water systems to deal with climate change induced issues as sea level rise, extreme weather patterns and more extreme river discharges. She (co-)authors over 200 journal papers and she has chaired this study as well as the WRR study on climate justice.