The Social Impact of Climate Change: between collapse and social metamorphosis

Abstract

Climate change has been regarded as the biggest risk facing contemporary societies. In this article we reflect on its social impact, including institutional architecture and policies, as well as the conceptualisation of vulnerability, resilience, mitigation and adaptation, all key issues in the fight against climate change. Cities play a fundamental role in the fight against climate change but they have not been studied as much as nation states. This analysis will take the form of a kind of reflective essay on some of the aspects of interest for analysing the social impact of climate change, specifying, where possible, the city of Barcelona.