Building Climate Resilience for an Aging Community Through Service Provision: A Case Study
The United States, like many other countries, is aging. In 2020, a total of 56 million people were 65 years or older, representing 1 in 6 Americans. This changing demographic is transforming both urban and rural communities and raises an important question for urban scholars and planners: How should we plan for an aging society? On top of this “gray tsunami,” rising sea levels, catastrophic floods, and abnormal weather continually remind us of the urgency for transformative plans to address climate change. This paper stands at the nexus of two challenges faced by cities: population aging and climate change. For age-friendly planning, service provision is key to moving beyond physical constraints of the built environment. Emerging from existing literature, this study raises the hypothesis: Can we leverage political support and ample funding from the broader energy transition to increase older adults’ climate resilience through service provision? This study then presents a case study of Tompkins County, NY, and its initiatives in energy upgrade service provision, which encompasses actors co-delivering services while engaging in planning, public policy, and the market. Using data gathered from four open-ended interviews, along with archival records of policies and programs for energy upgrades and gray literature such as local news pieces, this study describes the process of energy service provision, assesses the key actors who initiate actions, and explains how these actors collaborate within the county.