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Main streets play pivotal role in urban areas in terms of economic, social, moreover environmental contexts. Such streets are generally situated in densely built-up areas, where the adverse effects of climate change, such as rising temperature and changing precipitation patterns occur emphatically. Increasing urban heat island effect or extreme amount of runoff water during severe storms and floods significantly decrease the adaptive capacity of a city, consequently its residents becoming more vulnerable. Therefore involving climate-oriented design principles into planning and construction phase contributes to reach more sustainable and climate-friendly open spaces what are strongly relevant especially in main streets which are designed for a great amount of people. Present study provides a criteria matrix for assessing the climate-friendly level of recently renewed main streets in Budapest. Due to this assessment tool the adaptation and mitigation performance of the selected projects can be evaluated. For identifying strengths and weaknesses of a given project, a rating scheme has been applied by selecting and using 42 indicators grouped into mitigation, adaptation and awareness raising categories. Thus planners, decision-makers and other stakeholders can easily define future opportunities and challenges, accordingly this study may contribute to take urban street design practices toward climate-friendliness by paying more attention on changing local weather patterns and related consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adapting to climate change on local level is crucial in terms of making our settlements more resilient and less vulnerable regarding anticipated weather extremes. Nowadays there is a lack of Hungarian studies with respect to local adaptation strategies moreover related issues such as reduction of climate exposure or vulnerability. However the Alliance of Climate-Friendly Settlements provides membership to municipalities that have climate plans therefore collected adaptation strategies can be studied. Consequently main barriers, opportunities, similarities and differences regarding climate-oriented actions can be examined, moreover recommendations can be taken in order to improve the efficiency of the selected and future local climate plans. The aim of this paper is to analyse applied indicators collected from local adaptation plans, moreover to compare related sectors and methodologies used in different strategies. Since the lack of data is a frequently mentioned barrier in developing plans, recommendations concerning potential variables and sources of them can help to identify key intervention and focus points in the future. Such an analysis shall contribute to launch cooperation between local decision makers and other relevant actors, therefore it is crucial regarding stakeholder involvement what is one of the main success factors in developing local adaptation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]