scholarly journals The Role of Inclusion in Climate Vulnerability Assessment and Equitable Adaptation Goals in Small American Municipalities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Lioubimtseva
Keyword(s):  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Adaptation Planning ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Vulnerability Assessments ◽  
Climate Vulnerability

Abstract Equity and inclusion considerations are important prerequisites of effective climate adaptation planning, especially at a local scale. This pilot study examines how climate adaptation plans of small American cities and counties consider equity in their climate vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning goals, and how consideration of equity in existing adaptation plans relates to inclusion of diverse categories of stakeholders. Data analysis is based on the content of 23 local climate adaptation plans of small urban and rural municipalities across the United States with population less than 300 thousand people. Correlations between conceptualization of vulnerability dimensions, inclusion of 9 categories of stakeholders, and consideration of equity in 12 different domains of adaptation planning are examined. The study concludes that municipalities, who examine their vulnerability beyond physical exposure to climate impacts and consider sensitivity and adaptive capacity of their populations, appear to be more attentive to social equity and more likely to offer specific adaptation measures focusing on vulnerable groups.

scholarly journals Early Responses to Climate Change: An Analysis of Seven U.S. State and Local Climate Adaptation Planning Initiatives

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Andrew Poyar ◽  
Nancy Beller-Simms
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Adaptation Planning ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Climate Adaptation Planning

Abstract State and local governments in the United States manage a wide array of natural and human resources that are particularly sensitive to climate variability and change. Recent revelations of the extent of the current and potential climate impact in this realm such as with the quality of water, the structure of the coasts, and the potential and witnessed impact on the built infrastructure give these political authorities impetus to minimize their vulnerability and plan for the future. In fact, a growing number of subnational government bodies in the United States have initiated climate adaptation planning efforts; these initiatives emphasize an array of climate impacts, but at different scales, scopes, and levels of sophistication. Meanwhile, the current body of climate adaptation literature has not taken a comprehensive look at these plans nor have they questioned what prompts local adaptation planning, at what scope and scale action is being taken, or what prioritizes certain policy responses over others. This paper presents a case-based analysis of seven urban climate adaptation planning initiatives, drawing from a review of publicly available planning documents and interviews with stakeholders directly involved in the planning process to provide a preliminary understanding of these issues. The paper also offers insight into the state of implementation of adaptation strategies, highlighting the role of low upfront costs and cobenefits with issues already on the local agenda in prompting anticipatory adaptation.

Assessing the vulnerability of urban forests to climate change

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Ordóñez ◽  
P.N. Duinker
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Urban Forests ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Species Selection ◽  
General Notion ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Vulnerability Assessments ◽  
Climate Vulnerability

Climate adaptation is being embraced by many municipalities worldwide. An element of this is the planting and protection of urban trees. However, the fact that climate change will also have an impact on urban trees has been largely overlooked. We argue that climate vulnerability assessments are necessary for addressing climate adaptation in urban forests and contribute to successful climate adaptation in cities. We review and integrate the literature on climate vulnerability and urban forests to explore how the general notion of urban forest vulnerability to climate change can be developed into an operational framework for undertaking a vulnerability assessment. The framework characterizes climate exposure, impact, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, as well as nonclimatic drivers and factors, in urban forests. The most important themes in this discussion include urban tree species selection and diversity, naturalization, resource access, social awareness and engagement, budget and economic valuation, liability issues, and governance structures. Climate change vulnerability assessments help us understand how and why urban forests are vulnerable to climate change, identify future areas for research, and determine what adaptation measures could be included in urban forest management. These assessments help bring climate change to the forefront of the decision-making process and contribute to successful urban adaptation to climate change.

scholarly journals Urban agglomeration worsens spatial disparities in climate adaptation

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung Kyum Kim ◽  
Mia M. Bennett ◽  
Terry van Gevelt ◽  
Paul Joosse
Keyword(s):  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Urban Agglomeration ◽  
Adaptation Policy ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Bay Area ◽  
Spatial Inequalities ◽  
Local Heterogeneity ◽  
Climate Exposure ◽  
Climate Vulnerability

AbstractMany countries promote urban agglomeration to enhance economic competitiveness, but the impacts of this strategy on local climate adaptation remain poorly understood. Here, we use variation in greenspaces to test the effectiveness of climate adaptation policy across climate impacts and vulnerability dimensions. Using satellite imagery and logistic regression, we analyze spatiotemporal correlation between greenspace and climate vulnerability in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, an area comprising ~ 70 million people and 11 cities, making it a useful natural experiment for our study. We find that while greenspace increases proportionally with climate exposure and sensitivity, many cities exhibit discrepancies between greenspace variation and climate vulnerability. Green adaptation funnels into wealthier, less vulnerable areas while bypassing more vulnerable ones, increasing their climate vulnerability and undermining the benefits of urban agglomeration. The results suggest that centrally-planned climate adaptation policy must accommodate local heterogeneity to improve urban sustainability. By neglecting local heterogeneity, urban agglomeration policy risks exacerbating spatial inequalities in climate adaptation.

scholarly journals Multi-Risk Climate Mapping for the Adaptation of the Venice Metropolitan Area

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1334
Author(s):  
Denis Maragno ◽  
Carlo Federico dall’Omo ◽  
Gianfranco Pozzer ◽  
Francesco Musco
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Spatial Knowledge ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Adaptation Planning ◽  
Spatial Decision Support System ◽  
Metropolitan City ◽  
Climate Adaptation Planning

Climate change risk reduction requires cities to undertake urgent decisions. One of the principal obstacles that hinders effective decision making is insufficient spatial knowledge frameworks. Cities climate adaptation planning must become strategic to rethink and transform urban fabrics holistically. Contemporary urban planning should merge future threats with older and unsolved criticalities, like social inequities, urban conflicts and “drosscapes”. Retrofitting planning processes and redefining urban objectives requires the development of innovative spatial information frameworks. This paper proposes a combination of approaches to overcome knowledge production limits and to support climate adaptation planning. The research was undertaken in collaboration with the Metropolitan City of Venice and the Municipality of Venice, and required the production of a multi-risk climate atlas to support their future spatial planning efforts. The developed tool is a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS), which aids adaptation actions and the coordination of strategies. The model recognises and assesses two climate impacts: Urban Heat Island and Flooding, representing the Metropolitan City of Venice (CMVE) as a case study in complexity. The model is composed from multiple assessment methodologies and maps both vulnerability and risk. The atlas links the morphological and functional conditions of urban fabrics and land use that triggers climate impacts. The atlas takes the exposure assessment of urban assets into account, using this parameter to describe local economies and social services, and map the uneven distribution of impacts. The resulting tool is therefore a replicable and scalable mapping assessment able to mediate between metropolitan and local level planning systems.

scholarly journals Climate Change, Adaptation Planning and Institutional Integration: A Literature Review and Framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10708
Author(s):  
Nate Kauffman ◽  
Kristina Hill
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Adaptation Planning ◽  
Institutional Processes ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Future Work

The scale and scope of climate change has triggered widespread acknowledgement of the need to adapt to it. Out of recent work attempting to understand, define, and contribute to the family of concepts related to adaptation efforts, considerable contributions and research have emerged. Yet, the field of climate adaptation constantly grapples with complex ideas whose relational interplay is not always clear. Similarly, understanding how applied climate change adaptation efforts unfold through planning processes that are embedded in broader institutional settings can be difficult to apprehend. We present a review of important theory, themes, and terms evident in the literature of spatial planning and climate change adaptation to integrate them and synthesize a conceptual framework illustrating their dynamic interplay. This leads to consideration of how institutions, urban governance, and the practice of planning are involved, and evolving, in shaping climate adaptation efforts. While examining the practice of adaptation planning is useful in framing how core climate change concepts are related, the role of institutional processes in shaping and defining these concepts—and adaptation planning itself—remains complex. Our framework presents a useful tool for approaching and improving an understanding of the interactive relationships of central climate change adaptation concepts, with implications for future work focused on change within the domains of planning and institutions addressing challenges in the climate change era.

scholarly journals Population dynamics modify urban residents’ exposure to extreme temperatures across the United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. eaay3452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiachuan Yang ◽  
Leiqiu Hu ◽  
Chenghao Wang
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
Extreme Temperatures ◽  
Mortality And Morbidity ◽  
Spatiotemporal Population Dynamics

Exposure to extreme temperatures is one primary cause of weather-related human mortality and morbidity. Global climate change raises the concern of public health under future extreme events, yet spatiotemporal population dynamics have been long overlooked in health risk assessments. Here, we show that the diurnal intra-urban movement alters residents’ exposure to extreme temperatures during cold and heat waves. To do so, we incorporate weather simulations with commute-adjusted population profiles over 16 major U.S. metropolitan areas. Urban residents’ exposure to heat waves is intensified by 1.9° ± 0.7°C (mean ± SD among cities), and their exposure to cold waves is attenuated by 0.6° ± 0.8°C. The higher than expected exposure to heat waves significantly correlates with the spatial temperature variability and requires serious attention. The essential role of population dynamics should be emphasized in temperature-related climate adaptation strategies for effective and successful interventions.

scholarly journals “What are you going to do, Protest the Wind?”: Community Perceptions of Emergent and Worsening Coastal Erosion from the Remote Bering Sea Community of St. Paul, Alaska

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Tran ◽  
Lauren M. Divine ◽  
Leanna R. Heffner
Keyword(s):  
Alaska Native ◽  
Bering Sea ◽  
Coastal Erosion ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Adaptation Planning ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Community Perceptions

Abstract The state of Alaska is experiencing increased coastal erosion due to climatic changes that threaten shoreline, infrastructure, and Alaska Native ways of life. While several Alaska Native villages have been impacted by severe erosion, additional communities face burgeoning erosion concerns. St. Paul, a remote island located in the Bering Sea, Alaska, and home to ~450 Unangan, or Aleut, residents, is experiencing relatively new erosion and associated flooding issues. This study aimed to inform St. Paul’s erosion monitoring and climate adaptation strategies by documenting community perceptions of coastal erosion as an ecological and social threat within a broader context of multiple established climate stressors. We interviewed 21 residents to answer: (1) what are the community’s perceptions of erosion on St. Paul in the context of the island’s other environmental concerns?; (2) do current perceptions of erosion affect how local governing and management entities address erosion impacts?; and (3) how does erosion relate to and impact Unangan cultural traditions and heritage? Residents identified six locations of primary concern, owing to how erosion of those areas impact their culture, subsistence practices, and sense of place. We suggest methods in which local entities can better support proactive climate adaptation and mitigation measures and utilize resources for community-driven adaption planning. By documenting perspectives in Indigenous communities on emergent climate impacts, as well as perceptions of adaptation planning and implementation, it can establish the foundation for more collaborative, culturally relevant, and successful community-driven climate adaptation planning.

scholarly journals Vulnerability Visualization to Support Adaptation to Heat and Floods: Towards the EXTRA Interactive Tool in Norrköping, Sweden

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1179
Author(s):  
Tomasz Opach ◽  
Erik Glaas ◽  
Mattias Hjerpe ◽  
Carlo Navarra
Keyword(s):  
Primary Schools ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Governance Capacity ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Climate Risks ◽  
Digital Environments ◽  
Adaptation Action

Municipal actors are increasingly expected to consider climate adaptation in operative and strategic work. Here, digital environments can support strategic decisions and planning through visual representations of local climate risks and vulnerabilities. This study targets visualization of vulnerability to heat and floods as a means of supporting adaptation action in preschools, primary schools, caring units, and municipal residential buildings in Norrköping, Sweden. Workshops with sector leaders identified vulnerability indicators used as a basis for collecting, calculating and representing self-assessed vulnerability of individual units and buildings. Informed by user inputs, a map-based interactive visual tool representing resulting vulnerability scores and risk maps was developed to support (1) planners and sector leaders in strategic prioritization and investments, and (2) unit heads in identifying adaptation measures to reduce local flood and heat risks. The tool was tested with adaptation coordinators from targeted sectors. The study finds that the tool made it possible to overview climate risks and adaptation measures, which arguably increases general governance capacity Allowing yearly updates of set scores, the tool was also found to be useful for monitoring how vulnerability in the municipality evolves over time, and for evaluating how adaptive efforts influence calculated risks.

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