RISING DAMP

climate change impacts.’’

Researchers put together an interactive map in which they could overlay social and economic data with a heightabove-sea-level map, to see if there was a correlation.

There is. The areas closest to sea level tend to score highly on the social deprivation index, meaning its residents are likely to have low incomes and to be renting their homes.

They also looked at facilities such as schools and community centres, and found 17 such places in the lowest-lying areas, as well as three rest homes.

In discussions about adapting to climate change, there’s a tendency to jump straight to managed retreat, Stephenson says. This can be particularly damaging in places that have traditionally been marginalised, and it’s something decision makers need to keep at the top of their minds.

‘‘Adaptation is, first and foremost, an issue of emotions. It is emotive to be affected, it is emotive to think about the implications for you and your daily life, for your children, for the possibilities of what you might have to deal with in the future,’’ she says.

The recent past has been littered with failures and false starts for councils that have tried to tackle these issues.

It began, most notably, with Ka¯ piti Coast District Council’s plan to put hazard warnings on many coastal homes, which ended up in a prolonged and expensive court battle.

A similar fight took place in Christchurch in 2015, when residents objected to coastal hazard maps that showed thousands of homes at risk of inundation. The maps were dropped and redrawn.

These examples have filtered down through local government, which has collectively struggled to talk about climate change in a meaningful way, Stephenson says.

South Dunedin may prove to be a new model for how councils and communities work together – sharing power and decisionmaking, and navigating the unknown together.