MR2025: Mobility, Adaptation, and Wellbeing in a Changing Climate | June 16-18, 2025 | Columbia University, New York City
In partnership with the Global Centre for Climate Mobility
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
The Columbia Climate School has hosted Managed Retreat conferences every two years since 2019. In 2025, we are changing the name to MR, for Mobility and Resilience, in recognition of the fact that “managed retreat” as a term is contested and specific to particular geographic contexts. The conference addresses a range of topics beyond retreat, including other responses to climate risks such as voluntary or seasonal migration, adaptation in place, public policy, housing, insurance markets, green infrastructure, and resilience-building (see list of MR2025 topics below). So whether you choose to think of MR as standing for Managed Retreat or Mobility and Resilience, we welcome you to the 2025 conference!
SUBMISSIONS
Submit a proposal for a complete group session or an individual presentation, workshop, or poster using this form. The new deadline for submissions is Monday, January 27, 2025, by 5pm Eastern time.
CONFERENCE THEMES
Sessions and presentations at MR2025 will engage a wide variety of pressing topics at the intersection of mobility, adaptation, and wellbeing:
Planned relocation / resettlement | Migration as adaptation / maladaptation | Voluntary migration | Facilitated migration (government funding or support for migration) | Displaced populations | Daily mobility patterns (access to jobs and services)
Climate science for managed retreat | Non-coastal climate risks (flood and riverine areas; drought and dryland expansion; temperature extremes; wildfire in the urban–wildland interface) | Ecosystem conservation and migration | Green infrastructure (ecosystem-based adaptation; bioswales)
Environmental justice and equity (differential impacts; climate gentrification) | Sending zones (who leaves, who stays; involuntary immobility; economic impacts | Receiving zones and communities | Communication strategies (storytelling; teaching about managed retreat; arts) | Social science for managed retreat (vulnerability; risk; opportunity) | Community resilience (community organizing; vulnerable populations; social psychology; mental health; crowding out; residents’ perspectives)
Design and architecture | Land use / urban planning | Infrastructure approaches | When infrastructure fails
Governance, policy and planning (decision-making; international frameworks; federal management; state programs; local planning; multi-level policy coordination) | Buyouts and property acquisition | Legal issues and tools (property rights; zoning & land use; immigration)
Private sector perspectives (economic development strategies; corporate relocations; labor market dynamics) | Finance and economics (market signals; real estate; insurance; capital markets) | Receiving areas (growth management and sustainable regional development) | Housing markets | Insurance markets