City relocation refers to the planned movement of people, buildings and infrastructure to protect them from hazards such as wildfire and coastal flooding. You may also hear this practice called “managed retreat” although some vulnerable communities feel that this term takes away some of their power and autonomy, particularly if they do not want to move. People have been moving away from natural hazards for centuries. What is different now is the scale of the threats posed by the climate emergency and the number of people around the world living in vulnerable cities, particularly on coastlines. 

One example of large-scale city relocation due to future climate threats is in Indonesia, where leaders are planning to move the capital city out of Jakarta. It’s estimated that one-third of the city could be underwater by 2050. 

Relocating even small communities, let alone entire cities, is a difficult and controversial process, but one that may unfortunately be necessary in many places. It’s critical that, in addition to all the social, cultural, financial and political considerations that go into such plans, the people directly affected have power to input and influence, if not control, the process.

You must have at least 3 Incentive tags in this card's stack to take this action.
Discard 1 card from your hand, then add 2 Infrastructure Resilience tokens per Infrastructure tag in this card's stack.
You may add tokens to any one (and one only) player board (including yours), once per round.

• Managed retreat increasingly seen as necessary in response to climate change’s fury (PNAS)

• What is Needed for Fair and Equitable Managed Retreat? (Columbia Climate School)

• Managed Retreat Toolkit » Introduction (Georgetown Climate Center)

If you live in a community repeatedly affected by climate disaster, learn whether there is a movement for or discussion of relocation and join that process.