Robert Kates

Robert W. Kates (January 31, 1929 – April 21, 2018) was an American geographer and independent
scholar in Trenton, Maine, and University Professor (Emeritus) at Brown University.[1]

Background
Kates was born in Brooklyn, New York. Unusually for an academic, he never completed an
undergraduate degree. He studied Economics at New York University from 1946-8, but dropped out. He
married Ellie Hackman (d.2016) at the age of 19 and went to work in a steel mill in Indiana for 12 years,
working with the labor union and other movements.[2][3] He had a chance encounter with a naturalist in a
state park in Indiana when on vacation with his family, and this meeting inspired him to train to become
an elementary school teacher, a job he thought would free up summer vacations for the family. To realise
this career he signed up for night school at Indiana University, Gary in 1957, when aged 28. One of his
classes to become a teacher was in geography. Having found his calling and his discipline, he sought
study advice from Gilbert F. White at the University of Chicago. White gave him some key texts to read,
Kates returned to discuss them, White recognized his abilities and steered him through an MA and
eventually a PhD in Geography (1962). Kates taught at the Graduate School of Geography, Clark
University from 1962 until 1987.[4] At Clark he founded CENTED (the Centre for Technology,
Environment, and Development), now part of the Marsh Institute, where he remained a Distinguished
Scientist. He worked in Africa with Clark colleagues, and also developed and directed a resource
assessment centre at the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (from 1967–68).

Kates helped to establish the international Initiative for Science and Technology for Sustainability, was
Executive Editor of Environment magazine for many years, and was a Senior Associate at Harvard
University.

From 1986 to 1992 he was Professor and Director of the interdisciplinary World Hunger Program at
Brown University. Kates retired relatively early, became an 'independent scholar' and moved to Trenton,
Maine overlooking the Narrows in the early 1990s. Kates had three children, 6 grandchildren and 4 great-
grandchildren.[5] He remained professionally active until his mid 80s and in 2008 (at age 79), was
appointed the inaugural Presidential Professor of Sustainability Science at the University of Maine,
Orono.[6]

Contributions
Kates's research focused on long-term trends in environment, development, and population, and he is
particularly known for his work on natural hazards mitigation, driven by a Quaker belief in relevance to
human society. Kates defines his central question as "What is and ought to be the human use of the
Earth?" This led him to address the human use of natural resources and human response to hazards. His
approach was to set up "natural" experiments, and then to develop a set of comparative observations or
analogs. This led to several studies of natural and technological hazards, rural resource and water
development, and methodologies for studying people's perception of the environment, the assessment of
risk, and the impacts of climate on society. Since retiring from Brown University he continued to work
on:

the sustainability transition

long-term population dynamics
global environmental change
the prevalence and persistence of hunger
sustainability science[7]
Following the devastation of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Kates returned to his earlier work on
hazards and published a research perspective on the reconstruction of New Orleans (Kates et al., 2006).

Honours
Among several honours:

Recipient of the 1991 National Medal of Science (USA)

MacArthur Fellow (1981–85)
Member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA
Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Fellow of the Academia Europaea.
Laureat d’Honneur, International Geographical Union
Recipient of 2016 Charles P. Daly Medal from the American Geographical Society[8]
Stanley Brun Award for Creativity from the American Association of Geographers (AAG),
*Lifetime Achievement Award from the Human Dimensions of Global Change section of the
AAG.
Kates was awarded honorary DSc degrees from Clark University for his many contributions to hazards
research (1993) and from the University of Maine (2004).

Critique
Kates's work on hazards, and his 'human ecology' approach, some of it coauthored with Ian Burton
(Burton and Kates 1978), attracted critique from scholars including Michael Watts (1983a, b) and former
student Ben Wisner (1976, 2004). The insight of these critiques is that "natural" hazards are in fact
exacerbated by political and economic forces, and they should be seen as "social", not "natural". To
suggest that severe drought - or even the flooding of New Orleans - are "natural" underplays the ways
that powerful political and economic interests make people more vulnerable. Humans cannot "adapt" or,
in Kates's language, "adjust" successfully to hazards when a population is highly vulnerable or even
exploited (Watts, 1983a). Mitigating natural hazards is therefore a social justice issue, not a case of
adjustment. This has been much-debated in Wisner et al.'s At Risk (2004). Kates generally chose not to
respond openly to his critics.[9]

Books
Kates, R.W. 1962. Hazard and Choice Perception in Flood Plain Management (http://www.r
wkates.org/publications_books.html). Department of Geography Research Paper no. 78,
University of Chicago Press.
Kates, R.W. 1965. Industrial Flood Losses: Damage estimation in the Lehigh Valley.
University of Chicago Press.
Kates, RW. and J. Wohlwill (eds). 1966. Man's Response to the Physical Environment.
Journal of Social Issues, Vol. XXII, No. 4, October.
Burton, I. and Kates, R.W. (Eds.). 1965. Readings in Resource Management and
Conservation. University of Chicago Press.
Burton, I, R W. Kates, J R. Mather and R E. Snead, The Shores of Megalopolis: Coastal
Occupance and Human Adjustment to Flood Hazard Climatology, Vol. XVIII, No. 3, 1965,
pp. 435–603
Burton, I, R.W. Kates and R.E.Snead. 1969. The human ecology of coastal flood hazard in
megalopolis. Dept. of Geography. Research paper no. 115. University of Chicago Press.
Russell, C.S., Arey D.G and R.W. Kates. 1970. Drought and Water Supply: Implications of
the Massachusetts Experience for Municipal Planning (http://www.rwkates.org/publications_
books.html). RFF Press.
Kates, R.W. (Ed.). 1977. Managing Technological Hazard: Research Needs and
Opportunities. Boulder: Institute of Behavioral Science.
Hass J.E, R.W. Kates and M.J. Bowden. 1977. Reconstruction Following Disaster (http://ww
w.rwkates.org/publications_books.html). MIT Press.
Kates, R.W. 1978. Risk Assessment of Environmental Hazards (http://www.rwkates.org/publi
cations_books.html). SCOPE Report 8. John Wiley.
Burton I and Kates R.W. 1978. The Environment as Hazard. Oxford University Press.
Second edition with a new introduction: Guilford Press, 1993.
Kasperson R.E. and R.W. Kates. 1980. Equity Issues in Radioactive Waste Management.
Greenwood Press.
Berry L. and R.W. Kates (Eds.). 1980. Making the Most of the Least: Alternative Ways to
Development. New York and London: Holmes & Meier.
Kates, R.W. 1984. Technological Hazards Management. Oelgeschlager Gunn & Hain.
Kates, R. W., J. H. Ausubel, and M. Berberian (eds.), 1985. Climate Impact Assessment:
Studies of the Interaction of Climate and Society (http://www.rwkates.org/publications_book
s.html), ICSU/SCOPE Report No. 27, John Wiley.
Kates R.W., Hohenemser C. and J.X. Kasperson (Eds.). 1985. Perilous progress: Managing
the hazards of technology. Westview Press.
Kates, R.W. and I. Burton (Eds.). 1986. Geography, Resources and Environment, Volume 1:
Selected Writings of Gilbert F. White. University of Chicago Press.
Kates R.W. and I. Burton (Eds.). 1986. Geography, Resources and Environment, Volume 2:
Themes from the Work of Gilbert F. White. University of Chicago Press.
Kasperson, RE., JX. Kasperson, C Hohenemser, and RW. Kates. 1988. Corporate
Management of Health and Safety Hazards: A Comparison of Current Practice. Boulder,
Colorado: Westview Press.
 Newman L, (gen.eds. Kates, R.W. et al.) 1990. Hunger in History: Food Shortage, Poverty,
and Deprivation. Blackwell.
J.X. Kasperson and R.W. Kates, (eds.), 1990. Overcoming Hunger in the 1990s (http://rwkat
es.org/publications_books.html#1990), a special issue of Food Policy, Vol.15, No. 4,
pp. 273–368.
Turner, B.L. II, Hyden G, and R.W. Kates (Eds.). 1993. Population Growth and Agricultural
Change in Africa. University of Florida Press.
Turner, B.L. II, W.C. Clark, R.W. Kates, J.F. Richards, J.T. Mathews, W.B. Meyer (Eds.).
1990. The Earth as Transformed by Human Action: Global and Regional Changes in the
Biosphere over the Past 300 Years. Cambridge University Press.
Chen, RS. and RW. Kates (eds.). 1994. Climate Change and World Food Security special
issue of Global Environmental Change, Vol. 4 No.1, March, 1994, pp. 1–88.
Burton, I. and Kates. R.W. (committee chairs). 1999. Our Common Journey: A Transition
Toward Sustainability (http://rwkates.org/publications_books.html#1999). National Academy
of Sciences.
Raskin, P, T. Banuri, G.Gallopín, P. Gutman, A. Hammond, R.W. Kates, and R. Swart. 2002.
Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead (http://www.greattransition.org/
documents/Great_Transition.pdf). Stockholm Environment Institute.
Kates R.W. et al. 2003. Global Change in Local Places: Estimating, Understanding, and
Reducing Greenhouse Gases. Cambridge University Press.
Kates, R.W. with National Academies Committee on Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research,
2005. Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research (http://www.rwkates.org/publications_books.htm
l), Washington DC: National Academy Press.
2010. With National Academies, Committee on America’s Climate Choices, Panel on
Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change. Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change,
Washington: National Academies Press.
Kates R.W.(ed.) 2011. Readings in Sustainability Science and Technology (http://www.rwkat
es.org/pdfs/a2010.02.pdf). Centre for International Development, Harvard University. ("This
Reader is one possible set of materials for advanced undergraduate and beginning
graduate students of sustainability science. It consists of links to 93 articles or book
chapters from which appropriate readings and internet sources can be chosen")
Kates, R.W. 2011. Gilbert F. White, 1911-2006, A Biographical Memoir (http://www.rwkates.o
rg/pdfs/a2011.01.pdf). Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.

Recent Articles
Kates, R.W., W.C. Clark, R. Corell, J.M. Hall, et al. 2001. Sustainability science (http://www.r
wkates.org/pdfs/a2001.01.pdf), Science 292: 641-642.
Parris, T.M. and R.W. Kates. 2003. Characterizing and Measuring Sustainable Development
(http://www.rwkates.org/pdfs/a2003.05.pdf). Annual Review of Environment and Resources.
559-586.
Leiserowitz, A.A., R.W. Kates and T.M. Parris. 2005. Do Global Attitudes and Behaviors
Support Sustainable Development? (http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/sustsci/ists/docs/env_leiser
owitz_0511.pdf) Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development 47(9): 22-
38.
Kates, R.W., T.M. Parris, and A.A. Leiserowitz. 2005. What is Sustainable Development?
Goals, Indicators, Values, and Practice (http://www.rwkates.org/pdfs/a2005.02.pdf).
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development 47(3): 8-21.
Kates, R.W., C.E. Colten, S.Laska, and S.P. Leatherman. 2006. Reconstruction of New
Orleans after Hurricane Katrina: A research perspective. (http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/sed/do
 cs/sdsem/kates_pnas_katrina_2006.pdf) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Special Feature. 103(40) (26 September): 14653-14660.
Kates, R.W. 2007. Gilbert F. White, 1911-2006, Great Aspirations: Local Studies, National
Comparisons, Global Challenges (http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/gfw/NAS_lectures/gfwk
ates.pdf). First National Academy of Sciences Gilbert F. White Lecture in the Geographical
Sciences. January 24, 2007. The National Academies Keck Center, Washington, D.C.
Kates, R.W. and P. Dasgupta. 2007. African Poverty: A Grand Challenge for Sustainability
Science (http://www.rwkates.org/pdfs/a2007.01.pdf). Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences. 104(43): 16747-16750.
Colten, C.E., R.W. Kates, and S.B. Laska. 2008. Three Years after Katrina: Lessons for
Community Resilience (http://www.rwkates.org/pdfs/a2008.01.pdf). Environment: Science
and Policy for Sustainable Development. 50(5): 36-47.
Kates, R.W. and I. Burton, 2008. Gilbert F. White, 1911–2006: Local Legacies, National
Achievements, and Global Visions (http://www.rwkates.org/pdfs/a2008.02.pdf). Annals of the
Association of American Geographers. 98(2): 1-8.
Wilbanks, T.J. and Kates, R.W. 2010. Beyond Adapting to Climate Change: Embedding
Adaptation in Responses to Multiple Threats and Stresses (http://www.rwkates.org/pdfs/a20
10.01.pdf). Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 100(4):719-728.
Kates, R.W. 2011. What kind of a science is sustainability science? (http://www.rwkates.org/
pdfs/a2011.03.pdf) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 108(49): 19449-
19450.
Kates, R.W. (ed.). 2011. From the Unity of Nature to Sustainability Science: Ideas and
Practice (http://www.rwkates.org/pdfs/a2011.02.pdf). CID Working Paper No. 218. Center
for International Development, Harvard University.
Kates, R.W., W.R. Travis and T.J. Wilbanks. 2012. Transformational adaptation when
incremental adaptations to climate change are insufficient. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences. 109(19): 7156-7161.
Kates, R.W. 2012. Natural Hazards, Climate Change, and Adaptation: Persistent Questions
and Answers (http://www.rwkates.org/pdfs/a2012.02.pdf). South Australian Geographical
Journal. 111: 43-55.

Website
http://www.rwkates.org/

References
Watts, M.J. 1983a. The Poverty of Theory. In Hewitt, K. (ed.) Interpretations of Calamity:
from the Viewpoint of Human Ecology. Boston: Allen & Unwin. 231-262.
Watts, MJ. 1983b. Silent Violence: Food, Famine and Peasantry in Northern Nigeria.
Berkeley: University of California Press. [runner-up for Herskovitz Prize, 1984]
Wisner, B. 1976. Man-made Famine in Eastern Kenya. Discussion Paper 96. Falmer, UK:
Institute of Development Studies.

Wisner, B, P. Blaikie, T. Cannon, I. Davis. 2004. At Risk: Natural Hazards, People's

Vulnerability and Disasters. London: Routledge.
1. http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/kates-robert.pdf
2. http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/kates-robert.pdf
 3. "Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at UMaine" (http://www.umai
ne.edu/sustainabilitysolutions/about/Kates_article.html).
4. "Robert Kates Obituary (1929 - 2018) Worcester Telegram & Gazette" (http://www.legacy.co
m/obituaries/telegram/obituary.aspx?n=robert-kates&pid=188870248). Legacy.com.
5. http://obituaries.bangordailynews.com/obituary/robert-kates-1929-2018-1057279836 |
Obituary
6. "Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at UMaine" (http://www.umai
ne.edu/sustainabilitysolutions/about/Kates_article.html).
7. http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=mpr
Interview with Robert Kates, Pathfinder in Sustainability Science. Maine Policy Review 21(1)
8. "American Geographical Society to Award Charles P. Daly Medal to Dr. Robert Kates" (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20161202101428/http://americangeo.org/news-and-information/am
erican-geographical-society-award-charles-p-daly-medal-dr-robert-kates/). American
Geographical Society. Archived from the original (http://americangeo.org/news-and-informati
on/american-geographical-society-award-charles-p-daly-medal-dr-robert-kates/) on 2
December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
9. http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/kates-robert.pdf

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Kates&oldid=1261458067"