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Last updated 1 Jun 2026

Planned relocation

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Introduction

These resources analyse how well-planned relocations can help to increase resilience and reduce disaster risk.

Knowledge base

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Documents and publications
Planned relocation may reduce communities’ future exposure to coastal inundation but effect varies with emission scenario and geography

This study assesses risk of future coastal flooding before and after moving, for three dates and three emissions scenarios, for 17 communities from a global dataset.

Communications Earth & Environment (Nature)
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Documents and publications
Exploring the relationship between vulnerability and adaptation of rural households: Disaster resettlement experience from rural China

This study analyzes the implications of disaster resettlement on “vulnerability–adaptation” categories in southern Shaanxi by measuring specific and general resilience.

Frontiers in Environmental Science
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Documents and publications
Navigating tensions in climate change-related planned relocation

This paper calls attention to three fundamental tensions in planned relocation processes: (1) conceptualizations of risk and habitability; (2) community consultation and ownership; and (3) siloed policy frameworks and funding mechanisms.

Ambio (Springer)
Aerial View of homes under water in Australia's flooding disaster. Also features paddlers surveying damage.
Update
Rising risks of climate disasters mean some communities will need to move – we need a national conversation about relocation now

As climate-related disasters intensify, more people will be find their homes unlivable or uninsurable. Australia needs to start planning now, to relocate our most at-risk communities before it's too late. The long-term benefits are incalculable.

Conversation Media Group, the
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Documents and publications
To live with floods or not: Intersectionality of drivers of urban households' adaptation and relocation intentions

In this study, the Probit estimation technique is employed to understand the intersectionality of social, economic, demographic, and physical considerations influencing households' decision-making regarding relocation amidst flood risks.

Journal of Flood Risk Management (Wiley)
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Documents and publications
Climate change-induced community relocation in Fiji: Challenges and ways forward

This report addresses the challenges of planned relocation, looking at cases in Fiji, and it presents a specific promising community engagement approach that is pursued by the peacebuilding NGO Transcend Oceania in its work with Fijian communities.

Toda Peace Institute
Documents and publications
Planned relocation from Danube floodplains in Austria

This paper discusses the procedures installed over time for planned relocation along the Danube River in Austria and lessons learned from the varying success these procedures had. This paper first describes the government's approach on planned relocation

Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC)
Update
U.S. flood strategy shifts to ‘unavoidable’ relocation of entire neighborhoods

Using tax dollars to move whole communities out of flood zones is swiftly becoming policy, marking a new and more disruptive phase of climate change.

New York Times, the
Documents and publications
Designing a funding framework for the slow-onset impacts of climate change: insights from recent experiences with planned relocation

This paper investigates recent approaches to the planned relocation of communities as one possible response to climate change impacts. The authors find that funding for this pre-emptive response strategy is inadequate and consider principles to inform the

University of Leeds
Economic and Social Research Council
Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment
London School of Economics and Political Science, the
Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy
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The case for ‘Managed Retreat’

We’ve known for decades that coastal residents need to relocate ahead of climate change. Here are some ideas for finally getting them to move.

Politico