Building urban climate resilience through community-driven approaches to development

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 654-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Archer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Positive Contribution ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Climate Resilience

Purpose This paper aims to explore how the implementation of community-driven approaches to improve the living conditions of the urban poor can also have positive co-benefits for resilience to climate change, by addressing the underlying drivers of physical, social and economic vulnerability. Design/methodology/approach The paper applies a case study approach, drawing from the documented experiences of organised urban poor groups in Asian countries already actively participating in collective settlement upgrading, building networks and financial resources for further action. Findings The findings show that while certain actions might not be taken with climate change adaptation specifically in mind, these development activities also contribute to broader resilience to climate change, by reducing exposure to risk and addressing other drivers of vulnerability. The findings also show that partnerships between low income communities and other urban stakeholders, including local government, and innovative financial mechanisms managed by communities, can lead to scaled-up action to address development and adaptation deficits. This can lead the way for transformation in socio-political systems. Practical implications The approaches applied by organised urban poor groups in Asia show that community-level actions can make a positive contribution to building their resilience to climate change, and with local government support and partnership, it could lead to scaled-up actions, through a bottom-up approach to multi-level governance. Originality/value This paper considers how community-driven actions can build resilience to climate change, and it argues that adaptation and development should be considered together.

Gender perspectives on agricultural adaptation to climate change in drought-prone Nguru Local Government Area in the semiarid zone of northeastern Nigeria

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jummai Othniel Yila ◽  
Bernadette P. Resurreccion
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Local Government Area ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Crop Failure ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Vulnerability

Purpose – This paper aims at understanding how smallholder farmers are adapting to drought and what shapes their vulnerabilities and ability to adapt. Considering that their capacity to adapt to climate change has been undermined not only by the natural vulnerabilities due to their geographic location but also by the social context, gender and institution that interact to influence and determine household and individual vulnerability and responses to drought. Design/methodology/approach – Both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data were collected by use of structured questionnaires from 128 male-headed households and 122 female-headed households in eight villages in the Nguru Local Government Area, as well as from key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Findings – Climate change is not a concept recognized by most farmers and does not have standard translation in the local language; farmers believe the term refers to change in weather. Drought and crop failure are causing despair and frustration, and farmers reported that they are struggling to adapt. The resources and support inputs required for responding to climate change and variability are socially differentiated by gender, women’s and men’s responses to drought impacts as well as their access to adaptation resources and support differ significantly. Women are in particular unable to access the favored adaptation strategies promoted by Yobe State Agricultural Development Programme as a government support institution assigned with the responsibility of helping farm households adapt to climate change in ways that will increase their adaptive capacity. Originality/value – These findings are essential for informing policy decisions by ensuring that the experiences of both women and men and the context in which they operate are embedded into policy design.

Evolutionary urban climate resilience: assessment of Seoul’s policies

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 597-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taedong Lee ◽  
Taehwa Lee
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Metropolitan Government ◽  
Climate Risks ◽  
Climate Resilience ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Ongoing climate risks require all levels of society to be resilient. Urban areas, which are densely developed with huge levels of population and infrastructure, are critical places to develop adaptation and resilience strategies. This study aims to conceptualize evolutionary urban climate resilience strategies with a step-by-step analytic framework that will be called 3R: Recognition–Readiness–Response. Design/methodology/approach This analytic framework is then applied to assess whether and to what extent the components of urban climate resilience are incorporated into the pertinent ordinances and policies of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, including climate change, urban planning and disaster management. Findings The findings of this study suggest that the climate change ordinances of Seoul have focused on climate mitigation rather than resilience. Practical implications Thus, comprehensive efforts are required to incorporate evolutionary urban climate resilience strategies into ordinances and practices. Originality/value This paper contributes to build an analytic framework that provides a step-by-step process with check-list questions based on the sub-components of urban climate resilience procedure.

Lessons from self-assessments within urban climate resilience programs

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Henceroth ◽  
Richard M. Friend ◽  
Pakamas Thinphanga ◽  
Phong Van Gai Tran ◽  
Tuyen Phuong Nghiem
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Climate Resilience ◽  
Self Assessments ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

Purpose – This paper aims to review and develop lessons learned from the United Nations Office of Disaster Risk Reduction Local Government Self Assessment Tool (LGSAT) experience in four cities. The capacity to understand, learn from and respond to or reorganize in the face of change is at the core of urban resilience to disasters, climate change and major shocks. Self assessments, like the LGSAT, can be used to engage city stakeholders in critically assessing and understanding their capacity according to a set of standards of resilience. Design/methodology/approach – City stakeholders in four cities, Hat Yai and Udon Thani, Thailand and Hue and Lao Cai, Vietnam, completed the LGSAT in an open multi-stakeholder process as part of urban climate resilience programs. Findings – Completing the LGSAT provided important and valuable information about institutional capacity that is important for disaster risk reduction and climate change efforts. Multi-stakeholder processes allowed for greater and more sustained dialogue among groups that may not have a chance to interact regularly and helped build trust and relationships that contribute to climate resilience and disaster risk reduction efforts. Originality/value – Further, the inclusion of multiple viewpoints allowed for more nuanced and novel consideration of issues and in multiple cities led to new projects that focused on building institutional and agent capacity. The LGSAT process relied on facilitation that was able to guide discussion, ensure safe spaces for dialogue and address stakeholder questions. Finally, while the tool was applied to questions of climate change in this process, there is still room to improve the tool to more adequately and directly address issues of climate change risk.

scholarly journals Fostering the ‘Time is Now' Mentality: The Role of Open Data In Urban Climate Resilience

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keira Webster
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Contextual Data ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Climate Resilience ◽  
The Social ◽  
Innovative Products

Climate change is a systemic issue embedded in and interconnected with the social and economic makeup of a city. Building urban climate resilience requires innovative, collaborative solutions that hinge upon the openness and availability of current and contextual data. Open data tools, in stimulating information sharing, civic engagement, and innovative products, can contribute to climate change planning, building lasting resilience. Through an exploratory research methodology, this paper explores 17 international use cases, providing a basis for the implementation of open data tools in the realm of urban climate resilience, through the following five themes: 1) risk and vulnerability assessment; 2) the inception of initiatives; 3) diverging approaches to preparedness; 4) community mobilization; and 5) mitigation and adaptation. This research aims to spark a dialogue on the intersection of open data tools in urban climate resilience strategies, demonstrating open data as an appropriate tool to cultivate shared understanding and collective action.

scholarly journals Indicators for Monitoring Urban Climate Change Resilience and Adaptation

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Feldmeyer ◽  
Daniela Wilden ◽  
Christian Kind ◽  
Theresa Kaiser ◽  
Rüdiger Goldschmidt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Climate Resilience ◽  
The Face ◽  
Resilience Indicators ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Method Approach

In the face of accelerating climate change, urbanization and the need to adapt to these changes, the concept of resilience as an interdisciplinary and positive approach has gained increasing attention over the last decade. However, measuring resilience and monitoring adaptation efforts have received only limited attention from science and practice so far. Thus, this paper aims to provide an indicator set to measure urban climate resilience and monitor adaptation activities. In order to develop this indicator set, a four-step mixed method approach was implemented: (1) based on a literature review, relevant resilience indicators were selected, (2) researchers, consultants and city representatives were then invited to evaluate those indicators in an online survey before the remaining indicator candidates were validated in a workshop (3) and finally reviewed by sector experts (4). This thorough process resulted in 24 indicators distributed over 24 action fields based on secondary data. The participatory approach allowed the research team to take into account the complexity and interdisciplinarity nature of the topic, as well as place- and context-specific parameters. However, it also showed that in order to conduct a holistic assessment of urban climate resilience, a purely quantitative, indicator-based approach is not sufficient, and additional qualitative information is needed.

scholarly journals Urban climate change, livelihood vulnerability and narratives of generational responsibility in Jinja, Uganda

Africa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie McQuaid ◽  
Robert M. Vanderbeck ◽  
Gill Valentine ◽  
Chen Liu ◽  
Lily Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Weather Patterns ◽  
Present Generation

AbstractThere is an urgent need to understand lived experiences of climate change in the context of African cities, where even small climate shocks can have significant implications for the livelihoods of the urban poor. This article examines narratives of climate and livelihood changes within Jinja Municipality, Uganda, emphasizing how Jinja's residents make sense of climate change through their own narrative frames rather than through the lens of global climate change discourses. We demonstrate how the onset of climate change in Jinja is widely attributed to perceived moral and environmental failings on the part of a present generation that is viewed as both more destructive than previous generations and unable to preserve land, trees and other resources for future generations. A focus on local ontologies of climate change highlights how the multiple, intersecting vulnerabilities of contemporary urban life in Jinja serve to obfuscate not only the conditions of possibility of an immediate future, but the longer-term horizons for future generations, as changing weather patterns exacerbate existing challenges people face in adapting to wider socio-economic changes and rising livelihood vulnerability. This form of analysis situates changing climate and environments within the context of everyday urban struggles and emphasizes the need for civic participation in developing climate change strategies that avoid the pitfalls of climate reductionism. The article draws on more than 150 qualitative interviews, generational dialogue groups, and creative methods based on research-led community theatre.

scholarly journals Climate vulnerability as a catalyst for early stadium replacement

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Kellison ◽  
Madeleine Orr
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Grand Challenge ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Metropolitan Regions ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Sports Stadiums ◽  
Climate Vulnerability ◽  
Public Assembly Facilities

PurposeSevere hazards associated with climate change are threatening human settlements, thereby requiring global cities to implement comprehensive climate adaptation strategies. For sports organizations, adaptive measures may include designing and constructing new stadiums. In this study, the authors explore climate change as a vehicle for urban transformation, particularly as it relates to the replacement of existing stadiums with new, more sustainable and resilient venues.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employed a collective case study approach focusing on three recent cases of stadium replacement: Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas; Oakland Ballpark in Oakland, California; and Marlins Park in Miami, Florida. These cases were selected because an official representative of each team made explicit references to some form of climate adaptation, though each ballpark faces a distinctive climate-related threat.FindingsEach of the cases illustrates the various ways in which climate vulnerability may be deployed by teams and policymakers to replace professional sports stadiums. Although all three examples involved the replacement of an existing ballpark, only in the Texas case was climate adaptation openly cited as the primary reason for stadium replacement. Still, ballpark replacement plans in Oakland and Miami included significant and costly design features to protect the stadiums from extreme weather events.Originality/valueThis study applies the concept of climate vulnerability to illustrate a potential strategy to justify stadium replacement. As cities and metropolitan regions continue to grapple with the grand challenge of climate change, the associated vulnerability of large public assembly facilities such as major sports stadiums – particularly those prominently situated in urban centers – can no longer be ignored.

Considerations and principles for conducting a participatory capacity and vulnerability analysis (PCVA) for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iftekhar Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Vulnerability Analysis ◽  
Participatory Development ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wide Range

Purpose While there are many such toolkits on community-based participatory methods, the key considerations and principles of conducting a participatory capacity and vulnerability analysis (PCVA) are less covered, yet they are central to the effective conduct of a PCVA, the reason why this paper focuses on such issues. Design/methodology/approach This paper is derived from a toolkit that was produced for Oxfam Australia. Disasters and climate change are major drivers of poverty and significantly affect the communities that development programs of Oxfam Australia aim to assist. Recognising the importance of building its organisational capacity to address these risks, Oxfam Australia initiated and commissioned the production of a PCVA toolkit to support disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation programs; the production of the toolkit was led by the author. The methodology of producing the toolkit consisted of discussions with experts and a review of similar toolkits. Findings Details of the PCVA process and how to conduct one in a community setting are provided including PCVA concepts, briefing, logistics and management and principles of working with communities. Importantly, the different stages of conducting a PCVA are explained, and some selected tools are presented as illustrative examples. In conclusion, the importance of the PCVA considerations and principles are reaffirmed vis-à-vis the sensitivity and soft skills required in a low-income developing country setting. Originality/value The participatory development approach, which the toolkit follows, has been widely advocated for the past few decades and most non-governmental organisations involved in community development espouse this approach. Consequently, a wide range of participatory development toolkits have been developed, many of which relate to disasters and climate change. The PCVA toolkit discussed in this paper draws on the repertoire of toolkits already available and used over a long time. Nonetheless, effort was given to assembling a range of tools that were most suitable for the purpose of this particular PCVA toolkit. Instead of focussing on the tools, which are available from the freely downloadable toolkit and available in the public domain, in this paper, the PCVA process and its main principles are explained, and the key considerations to carry out an effective PCVA is discussed. Perhaps even more than the actual tools, these considerations and an understanding of the PCVA principles are significant because they underpin the utilisation of the toolkit.

scholarly journals Urban Green Infrastructure Framework for Housing Climate Resilience

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fahmyddin Araaf Tauhid
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Urban Housing ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Climate Resilience

Climate change is affecting urban areas by increasing the intensity and frequency of climate-related disasters such as flooding, sea level rise, drought, etc. The trend is expected to rise significantly without proper intervention. Urban housings as the concentration of people and economic growth are the most impacted. This condition calls to study green infrastructure/GI strategies as a more sustainable way than the conventional. Such GI approach not only mitigate and adapt the impacts but also improve the urban climate resilience, particularly in the housing sector. Therefore, this study aims to propose a conceptual framework to integrate the elements for the implementation of GI for mitigating and adapting climate impact for urban resilience improvement. This study identified elements to employ GI for housing climate resilience: public awareness; land use and development regulation; land and property acquisition; environmental management plan; housing strategy; fiscal and taxation; and governance. This framework is a new tool for scoping and assessing urban housing vulnerability to climate change by helping stakeholders to systematically consider the benefit to introduce GI scheme in respective efforts.

scholarly journals Building South Vietnamese delta settlements in the Whirlwind of climate change

2021 ◽  
pp. 66-78
Author(s):  
Marion Reinosa
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Mekong Delta ◽  
Community Capacity ◽  
Complex Situation ◽  
Housing Design ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Local Perception ◽  
Climate Resilience

Deltaic settlements worldwide are facing unprecedented challenges. This is especially the case in the Mekong Delta, where high population density, capital, and service provision increasingly intersect to expose vulnerable communities to the adverse effects of climate change. Due to a limited understanding of climate change, the presence of unique hydrological phenomena, and anthropogenic actions, the complex situation of the delta and its settlements has led to the implementation of inadequate architectural and urban solutions. This has caused abrupt socio-economic changes, shifting from an ecological integration mindset to a normative and disruptive approach resulting in the imposition of unsuitable models. Community capacity, which includes low-cost, circular and reuse practices, can offer more ecological perspectives on sustainable building in the delta. Illustrating local in-depth environmental expertise, communities have developed socially and environmentally adapted construction cultures. This paper argues for an alternative paradigm in which cities and settlements promote and integrate local building knowledge to enable architectural and urban forms to play a leading role in the resilience of South-Vietnamese deltaic cities and to mitigate developmental impact on the environment. Findings show a diversity of options and capacities at the local scale and flexibility in housing design. They also show that persistent gaps in policymaking and inconsistent perception of risk affects architectural and urban climate resilience. The discussion and conclusion advance the potential of local capacity in the building of South-Vietnamese deltaic cities, the need to integrate local knowledge and community capacity into policy, and the necessity to better assess local perception barriers to formulate localised, integrated and multisector policies to build resilient and sustainable South-Vietnamese settlements.

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