Local climate adaptation planning: What can we (not) learn from the analysis of adaptation plans?
Attila Buzasi (Budapest University of Technology and Economics)
Diana Reckien (University of Twende)
Do regions matter? A regional comparison of local climate adaptation plans from the EU-28
Diana Reckien (University of Twende)
Assessing the Quality of Urban Climate Adaptation Planning in 327 European cities over Time
Filomena Pietrapertosa (National Research Council of Italy)
Diana Reckien (University of Twende)
Climate change adaptation in Mediterranean Europe: How cities prepare for the climate challenge in this highly vulnerable region
Antje Otto (Universität Potsdam)
Assessing the progress of adaptation activities of German cities
Abstract
Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, there has been an increasing focus on assessing the progress of climate change adaptation. An important question is what ‘progress’ means and how it could be assessed, at the international, national, and local levels.
In urban adaptation studies, most assessments focus on tracking and analysing outputs, such as approved adaptation plans, as these currently represent a major part of adaptation activities on the ground and are often more easily comparable than, e.g., impacts and outcomes. Analysing plans cannot tell the whole story in terms of actual progress in collective reduction (or redistribution) of climate risks. However, it can provide information about the quality and relevance of adaptation processes and actions. Scholars argue that the best method to ensuring robust adaptation is to ensure rigorous adaptation planning. Indeed, higher quality plans have been found to decrease the cost of disasters more than lower quality plans, to deliver on implementation, while having fewer trade-offs and more synergies with other societal goals.
This session is a companion to the paper session “Lokale Klimaanpassung: Governance, Umsetzungspraxis und Aushandlungsprozesse“ in which we concentrate on governance and actors. In this panel submission we particularly focus on adaptation planning and the role of adaptation plans, as this is a topic where German and European studies are available that shall be discussed in light of similarity, progress, open questions, limitations, and remaining research needs.
In detail, we aim to discuss the preparedness of cities with regard to adaptation, the leaders, followers, latecomers, and laggards, as well as structural factors relating to their position. We also learn about the content of adaptation plans in relation to equity/ justice, the inclusion of vulnerable groups, and their participation in planning and monitoring and evaluation. A critical aspect in the discussion of the panelists will relate to the explaining factors of patterns of climate action and what cities can do in order to advance climate adaptation planning as well as implementation effectiveness and adaptation success.