Climate Havens: Humanistic Perspectives on Resilience, Migration, and Resources Symposium
 

University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology, April 16-17, 2026

As climate risks intensify, the idea of “climate havens”—and the identification of regions like the Great Lakes as more resilient to environmental change—raises pressing questions about space, belonging, justice, resources, and community. This symposium will explore climate havens through historical, philosophical, artistic, literary, and cultural perspectives, organized around three central themes:

1. What Is a Haven?
This theme invites scholars to explore the idea of a haven as a place of collective refuge and communal resilience in an increasingly unstable world. How have havens been imagined during times of crisis, migration, or disaster throughout history, literature, art, and philosophy? What does it mean for a place to serve as a haven not just for individuals, but for communities seeking belonging, healing, and safety? How do havens inspire new forms of care, kinship, and solidarity?

2. Whose Haven Is It?
This theme examines the ethical and social dimensions of climate havens. Who is able to seek refuge in climate-resilient regions—and who is excluded? How do race, gender, class, and histories of dispossession shape who is welcomed, who is displaced, and who gets to participate in defining community? What happens to existing communities when newcomers arrive?  How do places of refuge are negotiated, contested, and reconstituted in the face of migration, inequality, and climate-driven change?

3. Climate Havens and Natural Resources
This theme focuses on the role of ecosystems and natural resources in shaping climate havens, with special attention to regions like the Great Lakes. How can sustainable management of water, land, and other resources support the development of just and resilient communities? How might Indigenous, local, and historical knowledge guide community-based approaches to ecological care and governance? How can we best strike a balance between environmental sustainability, human experience, and resource management in climate-resilient areas.

The Symposium will include topics and themes on the Great Lakes region and addressing (but not limited to) the following:

• Historical perspectives on havens and migration, including climate migration
• Social and political dimensions of water resources
• Indigenous knowledge and stewardship
• Environmental ethics and justice
• Gendered perspectives on havens/climate havens
• Narratives of home, belonging, and displacement
• Urbanization, migration, and planning for climate havens
• Cultural and ecological loss in climate migration
• "Slow disaster" and its relationship to climate migration

The symposium will be held across two days, with day 1 convening at the University of Rochester and day 2 at the Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)

Funded by the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes and the CNY Humanities Corridor.