Sea-Level Rise Adaptation and Collaboration in Polycentric Governance: A Comparison of Three Regions

Authors

• Francesca Vantaggiato, King's College London
• Mark Lubell, UC Davis
• Matthew C. Nowlin, University of Texas at Arlington
• Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
• Majid Shafiee-Jood, University of Virginia

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.1111/puar.70117

Publication Title

Public Administration Review

Volume

Advance online publication

Pages

18 pp.

Abstract

Adaptation to sea-level rise confronts coastal communities worldwide with a new set of collective action problems that require collaboration. When does collaboration result in concrete action for adaptation? To address this question, we combine the Ecology of Games and Collaborative Governance frameworks using a comparative analysis of three coastal regions in the United States. We leverage original survey data from the San Francisco Bay Area in California (2018, N = 878), the Tri-County (Charleston) Area in South Carolina (2022, N = 152), and the Hampton Roads region in Virginia (2023, N = 153), three regions that differ in terms of vulnerability, institutional capacity, and political culture. Across all three regions, we find that collaboration in sea-level rise adaptation is driven by a core set of high-capacity actors who build and participate across multiple planning forums in polycentric governance arrangements

Rights

© 2026 The Authors.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

ORCID

0000-0003-3599-1417 (Yusuf)

Original Publication Citation

Vantaggiato, F., Lubell, M., Nowlin, M. C., Yusuf, J., & Shafiee-Jood, M. (2026). Sea-level rise adaptation and collaboration in polycentric governance: A comparison of three regions. Public Administration Review. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.70117

Repository Citation

Vantaggiato, Francesca; Lubell, Mark; Nowlin, Matthew C.; Yusuf, Juita-Elena (Wie); and Shafiee-Jood, Majid, "Sea-Level Rise Adaptation and Collaboration in Polycentric Governance: A Comparison of Three Regions" (2026). School of Public Service Faculty Publications. 90.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/publicservice_pubs/90