Understanding Residents’ Intention to Adapt to Climate Change in Urban Destinations—A Case Study of Chang-Zhu-Tan Urban Agglomeration

Abstract

While urban destinations have been affected by climate change, they are also at the vanguard of climate change adaptation. However, there is limited evidence from the urban destination point of view showing how they perceive or adapt to climate change influences. Therefore, this study bridges the gap by adopting the protection motivation theory to investigate residents’ perceptions of climate change risks and their adaptation intentions. Web-based questionnaires were developed and distributed to respondents, specifically residents in the CZT (Chang-Zhu-Tan) urban agglomeration. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to explore the underlying mechanisms. The findings show that the residents were already aware of the impact of global climate change and were well informed with regard to the relevant information. The key factors driving the residents’ intention to adapt to the changing climate were identified, and include information, risk perception, perceived adaptive capacity, and adaptive incentives. Importantly, receiving the relevant information can greatly enhance an individual’s risk awareness and adaptation appraisal ability. When people perceive greater climatic hazards and adaptive ability, they are more inclined to undertake climate interventions. Additionally, adaptive incentives have a considerable influence on adaptation appraisal, and greater incentives will mobilize residents to better adapt to climate change. The results provide useful suggestions, such as enhancing climate risk awareness and building adaptive capacity for urban destinations to generate better policies and strategies in climate adaptation and destination management.