Climate Adaptation Governance in Cities and Regions

Global climate change creates new challenges in particular for cities and regions. As centres of human activity they are especially vulnerable to climate change impacts. Adapting to a changing climate requires dealing with multiple uncertainties and complexity in order to allow proactive action. Therefore, cities and regions around the globe face the challenge of exploring flexible and innovative forms of governance which have to address specific local or regional vulnerabilities and build capacity to accommodate future change.

This raises questions about the roles of stakeholders, the involvement of citizens, the composition and use of formal and informal instruments as well as the implementation of different forms of organization and regulation at the local and regional level.

This book provides case studies from cities and regions all around the world. It analyses climate change adaptation from a perspective of organizing, administering and implementing local and regional adaptation strategies and measures. It looks into actors, actor-constellations, institutions and networks of climate adaptation. And, it provides the reader with knowledge about good practices and experiences to be transferred for solving adaptation challenges in cities and regions around the globe.

Jörg Knieling is head of the Institute for Urban Planning and Regional Development of HafenCity University Hamburg, Germany, and Visiting Professor at Politecnico di Milano, Italy. His research has focused on strategies, instruments and the governance of sustainable urban and regional development as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation on the levels of cities and regions. He has been involved in various national and international research projects and scientific boards dealing with questions of urban and regional climate adaptation.