Date of Award

2025

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Marine Affairs

Department

Marine Affairs

First Advisor

Emily Diamond

Abstract

Anthropogenic impacts of climate change negatively affect the geographic structure, economic stability, and environmental conservation of coastal communities at exhaustive rates. Coastal resiliency planning and frameworks have been widely credited and criticized for their ability to mitigate climate risks in vulnerable communities. Yet, the rapid impacts of climate on communities' socioeconomic and environmental sectors have led to outcries from researchers and users for integrated and holistic coastal resilience approaches. Approaches highlighting stakeholders’ views of risks, coastal resilience measures, and place values to form localized adaptation and politically supported management strategies directly involving and benefiting communities. This mixed-method study was designed to fill research gaps in understanding differences in attitudes and motivations of resilience policies and projects among residents and visitor users in Rhode Island. As well as identify the role of place values in influencing the prioritization of coastal resilience measures. The analysis aimed to highlight associations among said factors to inform management and communication approaches for resilience frameworks. The results showed strong associations and similarities in policy motivations among residency groups. Strong place values were associated with similar attitudes and motivations among generational residency groups and prioritization of multifaceted approaches. Approaches incorporating hard and soft resilience measures to deter climatic effects while preserving place values. The study recommends equitable community engagement in decision-making and planning. For management strategies and frameworks to consider the values and motivations of various residency groups, further highlighting community needs, and encouraging support of coastal resilience initiatives.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Available for download on Wednesday, May 27, 2026

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