Climate change governance in cities

Good governance is essential if cities are to become more resilient to climate change. Local authorities, citizen groups and the private sector need to work together, and with institutions at national and global levels, to address this.

Project
Archived
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Began 2014
Semarang, Indonesia: One of the ten initial cities in the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network, Semarang has been a pioneer in integrating climate change resilience into city planning and management. (Photo: David Dodman/IIED)

Semarang, Indonesia: one of the ten initial cities in the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network, Semarang has been a pioneer in integrating climate change resilience into city planning and management. (Photo: David Dodman, IIED)

In order to build the capacity of cities and city actors to adapt to climate change, an improved understanding of the nature of risk and vulnerability in urban centres is required.

This includes reviewing the urban and national politics of adaptation to climate change, the role of community-based action at the local level, and generating greater knowledge on the potential and actual roles of local authorities in building resilience in cities.

This evidence base can inform the development of city resilience strategies and national policy frameworks that engage with climate change impacts alongside broader sustainable development and poverty reduction approaches.

What IIED did

Following the recognition of urban areas as increasingly at risk from climate change impacts, IIED focused on expanding the body of evidence on climate change and cities. This ranges from describing the vulnerability of urban residents to documenting strategies for resilience, as applied by stakeholders including community groups, local authorities and national governments. 

There is a dedicated section on 'climate change and cities' in each issue of Environment and Urbanization resulting in more than 50 papers on this topic, highlighting many examples from cities which have begun to address climate change adaptation.

We also supported the capacity of local research institutions to generate new evidence and documentation on urban climate resilience through our role as regional partner in the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network. We provided teaching to postgraduate students in the UK, as well as international training courses for local government officials to build their capacity to adapt their cities to climate change.

Taken together, these activities provide a solid base of case studies, evidence and capacity building, which can contribute to better targeted and more informed decision-making for climate change resilience at the city scale, national and global scale.

Additional resources

Towards resilience and transformation for cities within a finite planet, David Satterthwaite, David Dodman (2013), IIED Environment and Urbanization Brief

The national and local politics of climate change adaptation in Zimbabwe, David Dodman, Diana Mitlin (2014), Taylor & Francis, Climate and Development journal

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