As global climate change intensifies, the question of what makes a place habitable or uninhabitable is critical, particularly in the context of a potential future climate outside the realm of lived experience, and the possible concurrent redistribution of populations partly associated with such climatic shifts. The concept of habitability holds the potential for advancing the understanding of the societal consequences of climate change, as well as for integrating systemic understandings and rights-based approaches. However, most ways of analyzing habitability have shortcomings in terms of in-depth integration of socio-cultural aspects and human agency in shaping habitability, in failing to address spatial inequalities and power dynamics, and in an underemphasis of the connectedness of places. Here we elaborate habitability as an emergent property of the relations between people and a given place that results from people’s interactions with the material and immaterial properties of a place. From this, we identify four axes that are necessary to go beyond environmental changes, and to encompass socio-cultural, economic, and political dynamics: First the processes that influence habitability require a systemic approach, viewing habitability as an outcome of ecological, economic, and political processes. Second, the role of socio-cultural dimensions of habitability requires special consideration, given their own operational logics and functioning of social systems. Third, habitability is not the same for everyone, thus a comprehensive understanding of habitability requires an intersectionally differentiated view on social inequalities. Forth, the influence of external factors necessitates a spatially relational perspective on places in the context of their connections to distant places across scales. We identify key principles that should guide an equitable and responsible research agenda on habitability. Analysis should be based on disciplinary and methodological pluralism and the inclusion of local perspectives. Habitability action should integrate local perspectives with measures that go beyond purely subjective assessments. And habitability should consider the role of powerful actors, while staying engaged with ethical questions of who defines and enacts the future of any given place.

中文翻译：

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一个互联、不平等和不断变化的世界的宜居性


随着全球气候变化的加剧，是什么使一个地方适合居住或不适合居住的问题至关重要，尤其是在生活经验领域之外的潜在未来气候的背景下，以及部分与此类气候变化相关的人口可能同时重新分配。宜居性的概念具有促进对气候变化的社会后果的理解以及整合系统理解和基于权利的方法的潜力。然而，大多数分析宜居性的方法都存在缺陷，例如在塑造宜居性方面深入整合社会文化方面和人类能动性，未能解决空间不平等和权力动态，以及低估地方的连通性。在这里，我们将宜居性阐述为人与特定地方之间关系的新兴属性，它是人们与地方的物质和非物质属性相互作用的结果。由此，我们确定了超越环境变化并涵盖社会文化、经济和政治动态所必需的四个轴：首先，影响宜居性的过程需要一种系统的方法，将宜居性视为生态、经济和政治过程的结果。其次，鉴于其自身的运作逻辑和社会系统的功能，宜居性的社会文化维度的作用需要特别考虑。第三，宜居性对每个人来说都不一样，因此全面了解宜居性需要对社会不平等有一个交叉的不同观点。 第四，外部因素的影响需要在地方与不同尺度的遥远地方的联系中对地方进行空间关系的观察。我们确定了应该指导公平和负责任的宜居性研究议程的关键原则。分析应基于学科和方法论的多元化，并纳入当地观点。宜居性行动应将当地观点与超越纯粹主观评估的措施相结合。宜居性应该考虑强大行为者的作用，同时保持对谁定义和制定任何特定地方未来的道德问题的关注。