Getting On the Same Page? Insights from the Public Discourse of Managed Retreat in Atlantic Canada

Abstract

Managed retreat is a term used in academia and increasingly in policy for the movement of people and infrastructure away from high-risk areas and natural hazards. Climate change impacts are anticipated to increase the need for managed retreat. Multiple terms for managed retreat are often used in the literature, which creates a diffuse literature and confusion among scholars. But the real challenge comes with engaging the public, for whom the term is largely unknown, and the concept represents a threat. We conducted a longitudinal content analysis of news media to explore the public discourse around managed retreat language in Atlantic Canada from 2003–2023, a period of increasing storm activity. Using a novel search approach, we found: a wide variety of terms are being used to describe the concept, in addition to managed retreat; such language has increased over time in news media, likely linked to climate-related events; and different actor groups are using different terms. Shared vocabulary is critical for collective action, so tracking the evolving language of managed retreat as used with and by the public is important for effective design, communication, and implementation of related policy.