Community involvement in coastal infrastructure adaptation should balance necessary complexity and perceived effort

Sea level rise and growing coastal populations are among the factors creating an urgent need for new and updated coastal infrastructure. Successful adaptation of infrastructure requires public participation, and it is important to elicit accurate feedback from surveys and in-person interactions. But there remains a need for evidence about the efficacy of potential tools. This research compared public responses to a single question about risk with responses to a series of questions based on multidimensional categories of risk. Public evaluations of risk were not practically different. Moreover, the multidimensional system imposed more cognitive strain on participants, which could unintentionally discourage public participation in the climate adaptation process. In this case, the single question provides the same input, with less effort. This finding is a reminder that effective risk communication for managing adaptation processes requires considering both the quality of public input and the effort required to provide it.