Catastrophe to Consensus: Hegemonic performativity in climate adaptation

Abstract

As the impacts of climate change unfold, coastal cities are beginning to adapt to the emerging physical and financial risks. In our case study of climate adaptation in Boston, we advance the concept of hegemonic performativity, which shows how political pressures lead an assemblage – a network of human and nonhuman actors, including models, algorithms, instruments, market devices, and experts – to converge on a consensus in ways that privilege particular goals, actors, interests, and forms of knowledge. Our findings show how an assemblage is performative in building consensus around a particular climate response that tames uncertainty by excluding extreme risks and incorporating more palatable scenarios and parameters so that adaptation appears manageable and compatible with business-as-(almost)-usual. The mechanism of silencing facilitates consensus by downplaying community voices, equity concerns, and more extreme climate scenarios. Our study highlights how the operation of an assemblage is performative in shaping adaptation plans, physical interventions in urban infrastructure, and associated financial mechanisms with considerable effects on who and what is protected.