Identifying most feasible adaptation options to heatwaves and heavy rain events in New York City

Cities are places of high vulnerability to climate change due to their density of people, assets, and infrastructure and their high diversity of people of and from different socio-economic backgrounds, gender, ethnicity, and age, determining knowledge and knowledge access, support networks, and other assets important for adaptation. The City of New York—on which this study is based—is highly diverse in socio-economic but also in natural characteristics (proximity to sea, natural areas, building and population density), e.g. across its 5 boroughs who serve as identity markers. Does these differences lead to varying and significant (perception of) climate change impacts? If this turns out to be true, city planning may need to pursue different climate change adaptation strategies in different boroughs, which is the underlying hypothesis. I employ Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping to investigate the current perception and affectedness of New Yorkers from all boroughs towards weather extreme events, i.e. heavy rainstorms and heat waves. I compare their impact perception and run adaptation scenarios to evaluate the most feasible adaptation strategy to alleviate burden.