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Climate change will have a disproportionate and asymmetric impact on cities and urban areas, and some of their most vulnerable residents will be at particular risk. Studies have found that some municipalities have done far more to adapt to it than others, but there has been a general lack of funding, implementation and engagement with marginalised groups to help them prepare. We suggest that the unpredictable and evolving nature of climate impacts means that adaptation represents a defining public policy challenge for local governments in the coming decades. We set out the broad epistemological, practical and justice issues that this challenge presents for the practice and study of local government, and argue that addressing it will require new approaches that go beyond discrete and familiar solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a surge in research on adaptation planning to address climate change and its effects. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of the keywords “adaptation planning” and “climate change” to determine the level of research being undertaken using a proposed Advanced Bibliometric Analytical Framework (ABAF). ABAF intends to overcome the inconsistency and vagueness surrounding the existing bibliometric analytical frameworks. Three types of analyses, namely performance analysis, rank analysis, and scientific mapping, were carried out on a dataset of 1087 research articles retrieved from the Web of Science database. The study found contributions from 1515 institutions and 116 countries. Most studies were published in English and Chinese languages only. An upward trend was observed in the number of publications per year, with 135 being the highest number recorded in 2021, emphasizing SDG13: Climate Action, followed by SDGs 6, 15, and 14. Findings show adaptation planning as a trending discourse in the impact reduction of climate extreme events. The results of this study can serve as a foundation for future research on adaptation planning for climate change. Additionally, ABAF can be applied in any bibliometric analytical study, and the framework could be expanded to include additional analysis typologies and metrics to enhance its comprehensiveness.

In the face of the increasing frequency of climate stresses, climate change projections can help in adaptation planning and resilience-building. However, typical climate change projections, such as annual average rainfall and temperature increases, are not helpful for farmers in understanding specific climate risks, like crop loss, and making adaptation decisions. Our study aims to identify and characterise context- and time-specific climate stresses in terms of climate conditions of concern to improve the understanding of future climate risks and enhance the climate resilience of semi-arid farming systems in India. Utilising the concept of critical climate-stress moments, we employ an innovative bottom-up methodology integrating insights from focus group discussions with farmers, key informant interviews, and an ensemble of downscaled and bias-corrected Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP-6) models. Our case studies include (i) a mixed crop-livestock farming system, (ii) a horticulture-based farming system, (iii) a cash crop–dominant farming system, and (iv) a cereal-dominant farming system. The specific climate conditions of concern identified were (i) increasing volume of late-monsoon rainfall, (ii) rising winter temperatures, (iii) increase in the number of days with temperatures exceeding 40 °C, (iv) increase in days with heavy rainfall (> 25 mm), and (v) increasing rainfall during the dry season. Identifying these critical moments improves understanding of both the temporal and spatial variations in climate risks, providing valuable inputs for targeted and implementable climate resilience–building actions. We recommend revising national and state action plans on climate change by utilising such region-specific assessments of critical climate-stress moments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural resources are often overlooked in climate change and resiliency planning, despite them being integral to community identity and the restoration of a sense of normalcy after significant weather events. This vulnerability assessment demonstrates how cultural resources can be included in planning efforts, and how they can be prioritized based on specific criteria. To complete this assessment, a working group with local land managers and cultural resource professionals was formed, and members employed a sophisticated Geo Tool, ACUNE (Adaptation of Coastal Urban and Natural Ecosystems) for climate adaptation, to predict how cultural resources throughout Collier County, Florida, would be impacted in two specific climate scenarios. The working group selected ten significant sites in the county and used ACUNE to prioritize action at these sites, using a matrix of hazard exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and the environmental, social, and economic consequences of the loss of these sites. Based on the results of our case study vulnerability assessment of cultural resources in Collier County, the next decade (2020 to 2030) has the potential to increase the number of sites at risk of storm flooding from 267 to 318, alerting managers that immediate action is needed for the sites of greatest value. The analysis of 10 case study sites is presented to demonstrate an approach for land managers and other cultural resource professionals to prioritize action at their own sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health National Adaptation Plans were developed to increase the capacity of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to adapt to the impacts of climate change on the health sector. Climate and its health impacts vary locally, yet frameworks for evaluating the adaptive capacity of health systems on the subnational scale are lacking. In Kenya, counties prepare county integrated development plans (CIDPs), which contain information that might support evaluations of the extent to which counties are planning climate change adaptation for health. Objectives: To develop and apply a framework for evaluating CIDPs to assess the extent to which Kenya's counties are addressing the health sector's adaptive capacity to climate change. Methods: CIDPs were analyzed based on the extent to which they addressed climate change in their description of county health status, whether health is noted in their descriptions of climate change, and whether they mention plans for developing climate and health programs. Based on these and other data points, composite climate and health adaptation (CHA) scores were calculated. Associations between CHA scores and poverty rates were analyzed. Findings: CHA scores varied widely and were not associated with county-level poverty. Nearly all CIDPs noted climate change, approximately half mentioned health in the context of climate change and only 16 (34%) noted one or more specific climate-sensitive health conditions. Twelve (25%) had plans for a sub-program in both adaptive capacity and environmental health. Among the 24 counties with plans to develop climate-related programs in health programs, all specified capacity building, and 20% specified integrating health into disaster risk reduction. Conclusion: Analyses of county planning documents provide insights into the extent to which the impacts of climate change on health are being addressed at the subnational level in Kenya. This approach may support governments elsewhere in evaluating climate change adaptation for health by subnational governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National-level governments are directing and funding climate adaptation research, which is essential to informing effective and equitable adaptation practices. We sought to understand how United States (US) federal agencies prioritize, direct, and fund research related to climate adaptation and climate resilience through analyzing climate action plans created in 2021 by 13 agencies who are members of the US Global Change Research Program. We examine: (1) agencies' stated climate adaptation research priorities; (2) how agencies address collaboration, outreach, accessibility, and usability of research outcomes; and (3) agencies' adaptation research funding opportunities. We argue that certain research needs, justice and equity considerations, and interdisciplinary research should be emphasized to a greater degree. While adaptation research capacity and funding opportunities are expanding, they remain inadequate for the scale of research needed. US federal agencies vary in their integration of research as a core component of their climate adaptation plans, but most prioritize research that is relevant and accessible to stakeholders and decision-makers. While all agencies addressed environmental justice, some could more substantially incorporate justice considerations into their climate adaptation research. Adaptation research and strategies should ensure that collaborations are inclusive and sustainable and would benefit from meaningful and respectful collaboration with tribes and Indigenous Peoples, as well as marginalized and under-represented groups. Multidisciplinary research is key to climate adaptation and should be enhanced through increasing funding support for crosscutting programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most climate adaptation plans expect stakeholders to change their behavior as part of building resilience. Given its long-term and complex nature, monitoring and evaluation is a key requisite for climate adaptation planning. So far, behavioral aspects have received only limited attention in the evaluation approaches for climate adaptation planning. This article proposes a theory-based evaluation approach based on the theory of planned behavior, for the evaluation of climate adaptation. A local climate adaptation programme for watershed development in rural India provides an illustrative case for this approach. For this case, the approach helped to uncover important factors that influence behavioral intentions, which were different for different groups in the farming community. Additionally, it helped to put behavioral change in a longer-term perspective. The illustrative case also suggests certain improvements for evaluations based on the theory of planned behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change will amplify stress on marine systems already challenged by conflicts and inequities relating to fisheries access, management decisions, and ocean uses across sectors. Understanding how those most connected to fisheries perceive the risks associated with climate change is critical to developing effective responses and establishing management priorities. Adaptation planning efforts may be hindered by perceptions of unequal or unfair distribution of resources and the processes in place to manage them. In contrast, adaptation planning that is more inclusive, transparent, and addresses social dimensions and perceptions of fisheries is more likely to garner support from fishers and fishing communities broadly. We elicited fisher perceptions of climate change impacts on fisheries, and responses to these impacts, through an online survey of commercial fishers in Canada's Pacific region. The survey highlights substantial concern for climate change, the impacts it will have on fishers' livelihoods and well-being, and some of the key challenges that may interfere with the ability of fishers and fisheries management to adapt. We frame the findings of the survey drawing from concepts of social justice, focusing on distributive and procedural justice, as necessary considerations, and context for climate change adaptation planning. Developing plans and processes to respond to climate change impacts on fisheries requires not only understanding ecological impacts and challenges, but also the social and institutional considerations that could help or hinder efforts to respond effectively and equitably to a changing ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike EU climate protection law, the law governing climate adaptation remains underdeveloped and so-far has not attracted similar scholarly attention. Given the unfolding climate crisis and global mitigation efforts falling short of meeting the temperature goal agreed upon in the Paris Agreement (PA) this article focuses on a fairly new subject of legal study: EU climate adaptation law. First, the article critically assesses the perceived need to address climate adaptation in a more general manner at the EU level beyond more specific subject areas, such as EU water law. It then maps the overarching framework for climate adaptation built upon the new central adaptation provision in Art. 5 EU-Climate Law and established environmental principles of EU primary law. Finally, the Article discusses strengths and weakness of this general framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change poses significant risks to socio-ecological systems, especially at the local level. Local government climate change adaptation strategies must respond to the physical impacts of a changing climate as well as community perceptions about climate change risks and impacts. However, adaptation strategies often overlook diverse stakeholder perspectives and expectations, potentially leading to ineffective and inequitable outcomes. To build stakeholder support for actions that may be unpopular, honest conversations and debate about policy alternatives are necessary. Using Q-method, we identify different discourses about climate change risk and landscape values among residents of Huon Valley, Lutruwita/Tasmania, and consider how discourses, values, and risk perceptions can inform adaptation planning. Our research revealed four distinct landscape value discourses ("Pristine wilderness"; "Accessible places"; "Rural lifestyle"; and "Coastal connections"). Discourses were differentiated by wilderness preference, prioritization of accessibility, and the significance of industry in the region. We also identified five distinct climate change risk discourses ("Governments must mitigate"; "Individuals must act"; "Community will respond"; "It may be too late"; and "Local government must adapt"). These discourses reveal differing stakeholder perspectives about perceived government responsibility, the prioritization of adaptation over mitigation, and risk appetites versus innate resilience. Results highlight relationships between risk perception and landscape values. If attentive to coupled risk-value discourses, and welcoming of debate about alternative options, policymakers and practitioners could formulate adaptation strategies that better respond to community needs. [Display omitted] • Q-method revealed climate change risk discourses, landscape value discourses, and their interrelationships. • We identified four landscape value discourses and five climate change risk discourses from the diverse community sample. • Wilderness preference, prioritization of accessibility, and industry importance differentiate landscape discourses. • The scale of responsibility, adaptation versus mitigation, and community resilience differentiate risk discourses. • Understanding the coupled risk-value discourses improves acceptance of climate change adaptation policy locally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health National Adaptation Plans were developed to increase the capacity of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to adapt to the impacts of climate change on the health sector. Climate and its health impacts vary locally, yet frameworks for evaluating the adaptive capacity of health systems on the subnational scale are lacking. In Kenya, counties prepare county integrated development plans (CIDPs), which contain information that might support evaluations of the extent to which counties are planning climate change adaptation for health. Objectives: To develop and apply a framework for evaluating CIDPs to assess the extent to which Kenya’s counties are addressing the health sector’s adaptive capacity to climate change. Methods: CIDPs were analyzed based on the extent to which they addressed climate change in their description of county health status, whether health is noted in their descriptions of climate change, and whether they mention plans for developing climate and health programs. Based on these and other data points, composite climate and health adaptation (CHA) scores were calculated. Associations between CHA scores and poverty rates were analyzed. Findings: CHA scores varied widely and were not associated with county-level poverty. Nearly all CIDPs noted climate change, approximately half mentioned health in the context of climate change and only 16 (34%) noted one or more specific climate-sensitive health conditions. Twelve (25%) had plans for a sub-program in both adaptive capacity and environmental health. Among the 24 counties with plans to develop climate-related programs in health programs, all specified capacity building, and 20% specified integrating health into disaster risk reduction. Conclusion: Analyses of county planning documents provide insights into the extent to which the impacts of climate change on health are being addressed at the subnational level in Kenya. This approach may support governments elsewhere in evaluating climate change adaptation for health by subnational governments.

The global discourse on climate change adaptation in various sectors has largely taken a top-down approach. However, impact analysis based on top-down approach with uncertainties at every stage of the process may lead to poor adaptation responses and hence there is a need for an alternative to this conventional approach. This study aims to implement a bottom-up, risk-based approach to vulnerability assessment in the agriculture sector, by adapting the Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA) approach. This paper explains the risks that climate variability and change pose to the agricultural system, with Lower Bhavani Irrigation Project in the South India as a case study. The climate stressors of aridity index and climate variability were incremented or perturbed to develop different future climate scenarios, and the changes in paddy yield and supply–demand ratio were examined. The supply–demand relationship in the system was highly vulnerable to the aggregate effects of climate variability and change, whereas the risk to paddy yield was low. Since the change in crop water demand induces risk to the system, we recommend planning demand management measures such as changes in cropping calendar, system of rice intensification, alternate wet and dry irrigation, deficit irrigation etc. to minimize the impacts. As the range of projections in climate variables is large, and the yield responses are low, we recommend having both robust and flexible adaptation plans. The bottom-up approach presented here provides solutions relevant to the system, hence it is highly suitable and recommended for local adaptation planning in agriculture sector.

Climate change adaptation has shifted from a single-dimension to an integrative approach that aligns with vulnerability and resilience concepts. Adaptation planning, correspondingly, is guided by three frameworks categorized as the hazard-based, the vulnerability-based, and the urban resilience framework. Exploring in which ways these frameworks affect the proposed adaptation initiatives is crucial for planners to justify the well-fit approach for adaptation planning. This study seeks to examine the influence of these theoretical frameworks on the formulation of adaptation initiatives with a sample of 45 coastal cities in developing countries. The vulnerability framework is found to tackle the issues of climate change sufficiently while the hazard-based approach shares resources for both climate change and other matters, and the urban resilience framework puts more effort into other issues rather than climate change. From these findings, the study offers implications for adaptation planning in applying each of these three frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change adaptation has shifted from a single-dimension to an integrative approach that aligns with vulnerability and resilience concepts. Adaptation planning, correspondingly, is guided by three frameworks categorized as the hazard-based, the vulnerability-based, and the urban resilience framework. Exploring in which ways these frameworks affect the proposed adaptation initiatives is crucial for planners to justify the well-fit approach for adaptation planning. This study seeks to examine the influence of these theoretical frameworks on the formulation of adaptation initiatives with a sample of 45 coastal cities in developing countries. The vulnerability framework is found to tackle the issues of climate change sufficiently while the hazard-based approach shares resources for both climate change and other matters, and the urban resilience framework puts more effort into other issues rather than climate change. From these findings, the study offers implications for adaptation planning in applying each of these three frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change presents challenges for the management of geoheritage at all scales from individual geosites to whole landscapes, and affecting all areas of the planet. Direct impacts will arise principally through the effects of climate changes on geomorphological processes and vegetation cover, while indirect impacts will result from hard engineering interventions to mitigate risks from natural hazards. We present an indicative framework that sets out key steps to help geoconservation practitioners and managers of all protected and conserved areas (PCAs) with geoheritage interests to assess and manage the impacts of climate change on geoheritage. Strategies for mitigation and adaptation to assist contingency planning and implementation should be supported by site condition monitoring and as far as possible work with nature, but will require to be adaptive in the face of many uncertainties. Our approach is based on assessment of the risk of degradation of geosites and their features and processes arising from the likelihood of climate change affecting them and the predicted severity of impacts. The risk of degradation of a site, feature or process will depend on (i) its geographic location and proximity to geomorphological systems that are likely to respond dynamically to climate changes; (ii) the magnitude, rate and duration of these changes; and (iii) intrinsic factors that include the geological and physical characteristics of the site and its features and processes. Management options range from non-intervention to planned interventions informed by the risk of degradation assessment. However, documentation for posterity may be the only practical option for geoheritage interests close to existential thresholds, such as small mountain glaciers, and sites at risk from sea-level rise and coastal or river erosion. Adaptation strategies for geoheritage in protected and conserved areas should, as far as practicable, align with those for biodiversity and aim to deliver multiple co-benefits for nature and people, although economic, social and political constraints may hinder implementation where wider stakeholder interests are involved. Managers of PCAs will need substantial input from geoconservation experts to carry out the assessments recommended and determine the action required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the accelerating pace of climate change, there has been no scarcity of research, in recent years, that assess climate risks and cost-effectiveness of adaptation measures in the transport sector. Nevertheless, existing literature associated with adaptation planning for climate change is still at an embryonic stage with little attention on certain potential dilemmas. Understanding such, this paper focuses on the question of how to respond to the barriers in climate adaptation planning in transport systems. This is achieved mainly through reviewing the literature in transport adaptation to climate change impacts to summarize eights conditions (potential barriers) that the shortage of those might lead to the failure of climate adaptation planning. Next, those conditions are examined by a historical case study between 2014 and 2015 on the Canadian port of Montreal's experience in tackling the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River's dropping water level. The findings, via semi-structured interviews with affiliated senior experts, closely mirror the enablers influencing the success of a climate adaptation plan, revealing the impediments and opportunities in the existing and future planning. It offers constructive recommendations on how to improve the port of Montreal's, and ports and transport infrastructures in general, process and practice of adaptation planning. The study strives to bridge the research gaps and provide decision-makers with a novel thinking pattern and workable recommendations from design, implementation to the reconstruction of adaptation planning and facilitate a paradigm shift in broader sustainable transport management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying and assessing adaptation options are key pre-requisite steps to adaptation prioritization and effective adaptation planning. In this paper, we presented a systematic approach for adaptation stocktaking, combining a systematic mapping and an outcome-oriented and evidence-based assessment, illustrated using the case of The Gambia. This study systematically mapped 24 adaptation options that can potentially inform adaptation planning in The Gambia agriculture and food systems and assessed how the identified options contribute to the pillars of Climate-Smart Agriculture. Because of the paucity of evidence sources from The Gambia, we collated evidence from both The Gambia and the West Africa region. We found that many of the documented options, such as climate-resilient crop varieties, crop diversification, climate information use, and weather indexed-based insurance have the potential to increase agricultural productivity and income while building resilience to climate change. While several options, such as soil and water conservation practices can positively contribute to climate change mitigation, others such as manure and inorganic fertilizers can have no or negative impacts on mitigation. Agroforestry practices and System of Rice Intensification have the potential to make a triple impact. The paucity of evidence from The Gambia and the highly contextual and differential impacts of the identified adaptation options underscore the importance of careful consideration of barriers and enablers when developing and deploying policy and interventions to sustainably increase productivity and income while building resilience to climate risks and reducing GHGs emissions. Stakeholder engagement and participatory research action are crucial in selecting and testing the priority adaptation options which can maximize their potentials in specific agricultural and food system contexts, such as in The Gambia. Because of the heterogeneity in household vulnerability and socioecological circumstances, targeting options to the right contexts will also be crucial to avoid maladaptation. We highlighted key knowledge gaps in the understanding of the effectiveness and feasibility of the identified adaptation options in The Gambia. Beyond The Gambia, the approach can also be useful for and replicated in other least developed countries in the West African region, that are currently developing their National Adaptation Plan.

Assessing how climate change information is used in conservation planning is an important part of meeting long‐term conservation and climate adaptation goals. In the United States, state agencies responsible for fish and wildlife management create State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) to identify conservation goals, prioritize actions, and establish plans for managing and monitoring target species and habitats. We created a rubric to assess and compare the use of climate change information in SWAPs for 10 states in the Intermountain West and Great Plains. Interviews with SWAP authors identified institutional factors influencing applications of climate change information. Access to professional networks and climate scientists, funding support for climate change vulnerability analysis, Congressional mandates to include climate change, and supportive agency leadership facilitate using climate change information. Political climate could either support or limit options for using this information. Together, the rubric and the interview results can be used to identify opportunities to improve the use of climate information, and to identify entry points to support conservation planning and natural resource managers in successful adaptation to climate change. This research is directly relevant to future SWAP revisions, which most states will complete by 2025, and more broadly to other conservation planning processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has become one of the most compelling fields of empirical research over the last couple of decades, partly due to its socio-economic impacts. Using a meta-analysis of 235 peer-reviewed articles published between January 2010 and July 2020, this paper appraises climate change adaptation (CCA) research in Nepal and draws lessons for future adaptation planning. The number of research is observed to have increased significantly in recent years (2015–2020) although there is no consistent pattern over the review period and at the thematic level. Findings submit that the agriculture and food security has the highest number of publications (37%) followed by gender equality and social inclusion (18%) and forest, biodiversity and watershed management (16%). There are no studies found in rural and urban settlement theme. Geographic distribution of CCA studies revealed that over 40% studies were carried out from central Nepal, while no study was conducted in ten districts of eastern and western Nepal. The study focus was also discrete, and the perception and attitude and impact assessment of climate change were common agendas; however, the drivers of change and options for adaptation were understudied. CCA with multipronged initiatives provide a broader understanding of dynamics and governance of climate change that not only affects rural livelihoods, but also influences regional and global environments and biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community adaptation to the negative impacts of climate change benefits from an analysis of both the trends in climate variables and people’s perception of climate change. This paper contends that members of the local community have observed changes in temperature and rainfall patterns and that these perceptions can be positively correlated with meteorological records. This is particularly useful for remote regions like Lamu whereby access to weather data is spatially and temporally challenged. Linear trend analysis is employed to describe the change in temperature and rainfall in Lamu using monthly data obtained from the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) for the period 1974–2014. To determine local perceptions and understanding of the trends, results from a household survey are presented. Significant warming trends have been observed in the study area over the period 1974–2014. This warming is attributed to a rise in maximum temperatures. In contrast to temperature, a clear picture of the rainfall trend has not emerged. Perceptions of the local community closely match the findings on temperature, with majority of the community identifying a rise in temperature over the same period. The findings suggest that the process of validating community perceptions of trends with historical meteorological data analysis can promote adaptation planning that is inclusive and responsive to local experiences.

Recent climatic disasters have shown the vulnerability of transportation infrastructures against natural hazards. To understand the risk of coastal hazards on urban travel activities, this study presents an activity-based modeling approach to evaluate the impacts of storm surge on the transportation network under sea-level rise in Miami-Dade County, FL. A Markov-Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) based algorithm is applied to generate population attributes and travel diaries in the model simulation. Flooding scenarios in 2045 are developed based on different adaptation standards under the 100-year storm surge and population projections are from the land-use conflict identification strategy (LUCIS) model. Our analysis indicates that about 29.3% of the transportation infrastructure, including areas of the US No. 1 highway, roadways in the south and southwest of the county, and bridges connecting Miami Beach area, will be damaged under the storm surge when a low-level adaptation standard is chosen. However, the high-level adaptation standard will reduce the vulnerable infrastructures to 12.4%. Furthermore, the total increased travel time of the low-level adaptation standard could be as high as twice of that in the high-level adaptation standard during peak morning hours. Our model results also reveal that the average increased travel time due to future storm surge damage ranges between 14.2 and 62.8 min per trip. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As cities strive to protect vulnerable residents from climate risks and impacts, recent studies have identified a challenging link between these measures and gentrification processes that reconfigure, but do not necessarily eliminate, climate insecurities. Green resilient infrastructure (GRI) may especially increase the vulnerability of lower income communities of color to gentrification, an issue that remains underexplored. Drawing on the forerunner green city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as our case study, this article adopts a novel intersectional approach to assess overlapping and interdependent factors in generating vulnerability and resilience using spatial quantitative data and qualitative interviews with community-based organizers, nonprofits, and municipal stakeholders. More specifically, this article develops a new methodology to assess vulnerability to future climate gentrification and contributes to debates on the role of urban development, housing, and sustainability practices in climate justice dynamics. It also informs strategies that can reduce social and racial inequities in the context of climate adaptation planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and natural hazards have created multiple impacts on human settlements. Urban planning and design are effective tools in dealing with climate adaptation and mitigation issues. However, climate risk and its impacts are multiscale and complex due to interdependence between urban infrastructure systems. Identifying adaptation strategies to cope with these impacts requires planners to understand potential interdependent and interrelated consequences of infrastructure failure under natural hazards, and evaluate cascading and cumulative effects of climate change. This article discussed opportunities and challenges to incorporate interdependent social and physical infrastructure systems in the adaptation planning and hazard mitigation process, including climate hazard assessment, adaptation goal identification, adaptation strategy development, and implementation. The availability of urban big data and high computational resources will enable urban planners and decision-makers to better deal with those complex impacts from climate change and natural hazards. Successful adaptation planning and hazard mitigation for interdependent infrastructure systems also needs to solve issues in uncertainties of climate projection, institutional barriers of adaptation, and challenges of urban big data. Potential solutions to these challenges would include cooperation among multi- disciplinary experts, coordination between different levels of governments, and developing the ethical framework for data protection and robust methodologies to detect and reduce data bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change poses significant threats to wellbeing and livelihoods of people and the ecosystems in many Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Adaptation solutions must counteract these threats while also supporting development in vulnerable SIDS. Suitable options need to ensure that connections between the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of socio-economic systems are defined in a way that can support how decisions are made (and by whom) and how these can impact on other parts of these systems. This is particularly important in many Pacific SIDS, where communities practise customary natural resource management and continue to rely on local natural resources. In this study, we model the anticipated impacts of climate change and the benefits of the ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) approaches on community wellbeing in Vanuatu. To do this, we applied participatory and expert elicitation methods to develop a Bayesian network model, which was designed to evaluate community wellbeing responses at four explicit spatial scales. The model includes both acute and chronic impacts of climate change, the impact of coral bleaching, and the potential loss of Vanuatu's fringing coral reefs. The model predicts that all proposed EbA interventions will have a positive impact on wellbeing in all four locations to some degree, by either directly improving the integrity of Vanuatu's ecosystems or by protecting these ecosystems as a positive spill-over of related actions. Significantly, it also predicts that if climate change exceeds 1.5 °C of warming, the costs of achieving the same level of wellbeing are increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities increasingly turn to green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) to improve water quality and mitigate flooding risk, yet like other forms of green infrastructure, early research suggests GSI may contribute to 'green gentrification,' in which greening increases housing costs, drives gentrification and displacement, and deepens inequalities. Using a spatially explicit mixed-methods approach, I interrogate the relationship between GSI and gentrification in Minneapolis, MN, a city characterized by deep racial inequalities potentially exacerbated by green gentrification. From 2000-2015, census tracts that gentrified received, on average, more GSI projects, more funding per project, and more funding overall. Gentrified tracts received five times more GSI funding than low-income tracts that did not gentrify. Buffer analysis reveals that, adjacent to GSI, rent prices and the college-educated share of the population increased at rates significantly higher than the city average. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of institutions providing and receiving GSI funding indicates that inter-governmental collaborations between watershed governing bodies and city government direct GSI funding to gentrifying areas, where GSI aid in and legitimize the aesthetic transformation of gentrifying neighborhoods. When enmeshed in neighborhood recapitalization via green gentrification, GSI may ultimately deepen environmental inequalities, highlighting the need for planning and policies that proactively mitigate gentrification risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change-related health risks are likely to become more prevalent in cities. Cities are also key actors in adaptation to these risks. Adaptation can take place through intentional measures to reduce vulnerability or exposure and unintentionally through other urban policy processes and outcomes. However, complex and dynamic relations between urban policy impacts and vulnerability development are an understudied phenomena. This limits the understanding of how urban climate-related health risks emerge and evolve. We examine urban policy pathways that influence vulnerability to climate-related health impacts with a most similar - most different case study. With a qualitative retrospective analysis of four urban areas in Finland we unveil the mechanism of how urban policy affects urban environment over time and how these impacts and changes shape vulnerability. Contrasting the most different cases, we show that urban policy impacts set differing preconditions to adaptation between local districts. We conclude by suggesting that to adapt to future challenges in cities with respect to social and ecological justice, it is necessary to mainstream adaptation into urban policies with continuous cross-sector and multi-level dialogue about the development of vulnerability. • Novel approach on empirical retrospective urban policy impact pathway analysis. • Climate change health risks in cities can be addressed with vulnerability reduction. • Different policies affect urban environment over the time and shape vulnerability. • Urban policy impacts set differing adaptation preconditions between urban districts. • Identification of policy impacts on vulnerability development help plan adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Adaptation pathways can support planning for place- and problem-based issues. • Credible, relevant, and legitimate essential, though imperfect, evaluation criteria. • Addressing complex risks demonstrates value of science at local policy interface. • Ability to work with and embrace messiness and complexity is required. • Participatory processes provide essential engagement and capacity building. ' Think global, act local ' has been linked with climate change issues for several decades and suggests a simple downscaling of ideas, tools and processes can be relatively easily achieved. Adaptation pathways, for example, are increasingly used to identify and evaluate adaptation options against a range of plausible futures. The process is applied to both large-scale infrastructure and investment decisions, as well as smaller-scale, sub-national issues associated in part, with climate change impacts and implications. Consequently, pathways are being developed in the context of multiple contested values, competing with other, more immediate, non-climate-related or indirectly related planning processes, such as freshwater management, community resilience and wellbeing, and biodiversity conservation. In this Short Communication we reflect specifically on place-based adaptation pathways constructed, presented, and implemented within limited budgets and without recourse to resource-intensive research capacities. We emphasise the need to meet criteria for local credibility, legitimacy, and relevance. Specifically, we suggest there is a need to accommodate the complexities of local conditions; establish affordable and accessible processes; and build technical and participatory capability. These considerations may assist with co-creating place-based pathways and incorporate a wider range of complex issues both political and contextual with multiple constituencies including, as necessary, where science itself is increasingly questioned or disregarded. In turn this might lead to sets of country specific, nested local hierarchical adaptation options developed through pluralist approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]