Unlocking the Potential for Transformative Climate Adaptation in Cities

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This paper is part of a series of background papers commissioned by the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) to inform its 2019 Flagship Report, Adapt Now: A Global Call for Leadership on Climate Resilience. The GCA seeks to accelerate adaptation action and support by elevating the political visibility of adaptation and focusing on concrete solutions. It is convened by 17 countries and guided by 30 commissioners, and co-managed by the Global Center on Adaptation and the World Resources Institute. This paper reflects the views of the authors, and not necessarily those of the GCA..

Highlights

Cities are increasingly integrating climate adaptation priorities into development policies and plans. However, there remains a gap in understanding how incremental urban adaptation solutions can lead to more transformative change over the long term.

Transformative adaptation reorients urban climate actions around addressing entrenched equity and climate justice challenges. It focuses on systemic changes to development processes that improve people’s quality of life, enhance the social and economic vibrancy of cities, and ensure sustainable, resilient, and inclusive urban futures.

This paper systematically reviews literature and case studies across the Global North and South to assess the barriers and enablers to transformative climate adaptation, focusing on examples and evidence from a wide range of cities. The authors highlight three key action areas that cities can focus on to help advance transformative urban adaptation: mainstreaming information on climate risks in the spatial planning and delivery of urban services, partnering with vulnerable and informal groups to build their resilience, and using nature-based solutions to respond to water, heat and other risks.

It is found that adequate resources for infrastructure and service delivery, strong leadership, accountable institutions and data-driven metrics co-created with communities can help cities prioritize climate adaptation solutions. Partnerships across public, private and civil society actors can build support for adaptation priorities, which must be implemented in conjunction with climate mitigation, ecosystem protection, economic growth and sustainable development objectives at the local level.

This paper is authored by Eric Chu, Anna Brown, Kavya Michael, Jillian Du, Shuaib Lwasa and Anjali Mahendra