Community Resilience to Climate Change: Theory, Research and Practice

240 Vulnerability to high temperatures Benzie et al. (2011) examine the concepts of vulnerability and resilience as they are used by the climate change community and relate these to the concept of social justice. They find that there is likely to be a strong social dimension to climate change vulnerability in the UK. The report focuses on the complexity of social vulnerability to high temperatures. Table 1. Overview of socially contextual factors that determine vulnerability to climate change. In the UK, vulnerability to high temperatures has previously been understood as a function of health and a matter for the health service (DoH 2010). Although accurate, this physiological focus on sensitivity fails to account for the social processes and social context that determine who is able to anticipate, cope with, and adapt in order to avoid harm during heat waves. There are spatial patterns to the distribution of vulnerability to high temperatures; for example, urban residents are more exposed (Hajat et al. 2007) and within towns and cities it is often deprived areas that are most likely to be located within the center of urban heat islands (UHIs). Deprived inner-city communities are also less likely to have close access to cool spaces such as green parks, gardens, or woodlands. Social factors are also important determinants of vulnerability, although research in this area is generally lacking. Social cohesion at the community level, including ethnic or faith-based communities that span different urban neighborhoods, can help to identify vulnerable people and offer support during heat waves; such informal networks often replace official medical or social services, particularly where population turnover is high and trust between social groups and official services is low, as in some deprived urban neighborhoods (Brent Council 2009). In this respect, the presence of strong communities and high social capital may sometimes be higher in some deprived neighborhoods than in some higher income neighborhoods, e.g., suburban commuter districts. Some studies indicate a link between social isolation and mortality during heat waves (e.g., Klinenberg 2002), whereas others identify stronger links between mortality and residency in care homes (e.g., Brown and Walker 2008). Welfare losses from heat, as opposed to