This book describes the urgent challenge faced by cities worldwide to become resilient to climate change impacts. This challenge goes further than the ability to resist the impacts of extreme weather conditions. Coping with climate impacts and the ability to recover from them are equally important, as well as the capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change and the ability to transform the entire urban system. The book explores how the resilience journey for coastal cities in particular encompasses using scientific knowledge but also the knowledge of citizens and practitioners. Measures and strategies on different scales are needed, from national scale all the way down to neighbourhood, street level and building level. Representing the holistic nature of climate resilience, this collection contains unique insights from leading scientists and practitioners in areas of expertise such as engineering, social sciences and urban design. It will be a valuable resource for scholars, students, practitioners and policy makers interested in the development of resilient and sustainable urban environments.

Climate change is one of the major challenges facing cities in the future. Landscape architecture is particularly in demand here because it offers solutions that are characterized by complexity and interdisciplinarity and contribute to the quality of everyday life. These range from green roofs and facades to urban gardening and the landscaping of large-scale protection works. This volume presents measures and plans of eleven major cities in North and South America, from Vancouver to Rio de Janeiro, to protect their inhabitants and their habitats against future storms, floods, landslides or long periods of heat and drought. Outstanding projects in the featured cities are analyzed in their geographic and climatic context. The author also addresses the social and cultural dimensions of resilience.

'Climate Resilient Cities: A Primer on Reducing Vulnerabilities to Disasters' provides city administrators with exactly what they need to know about the complex and compelling challenges of climate change. The book helps local governments create training, capacity building, and capital investment programs for building sustainable, resilient communities. A step-by-step self-assessment challenges policymakers to think about the resources needed to combat natural disasters through an innovative hot spot risk and vulnerability identifi cation tool. This primer is unique from other resources in its treatment of climate change using a dual-track approach that integrates both mitigation (lowering contributions to greenhouse gases) and adaptation (preparing for impacts of climate change) with disaster risk management. The book is relevant both to cities that are just beginning to think about climate change as well as those that already have well established policies, institutions, and strategies in place. By providing a range of city-level examples of sound practices around the world, the book demonstrates that there are many practical actions that cities can take to build resilience to climate change and natural disasters.

Drawing from research and examples about resilient cities, this book looks at new initiatives and innovations cities can implement.

Cities are one of the most significant contributors to global climate change. The rapid speed at which urban centers use large amounts of resources adds to the global crisis and can lead to extreme local heat. The Urban Fix addresses how urban design, planning and policies can counter the threats of climate change, urban heat islands and overpopulation, helping cities take full advantage of their inherent advantages and new technologies to catalyze social, cultural and physical solutions to combat the epic, unprecedented challenges humanity faces. The book fills a conspicuous void in the international dialogue on climate change and heat islands by examining both the environmental benefits in developed countries and the population benefit in developing countries. Urban heat islands can be addressed in incremental, manageable steps, such as planting trees and painting roofs white, which provide a more concrete and proactive sense of progress for policymakers and practitioners. This book is invaluable to anyone searching for a better understanding of the impact of resilient cities in the monumental and urgent fight against climate change, and provides the tools to do so.

Drawing on evidence from urban resilience initiatives around the globe, the authors make a compelling argument for a "resilience reset", a pause and stocktake that critically examines the concepts, practices and challenges of building resilience, particularly in cities of the Global South. In turn, the book calls for the world’s cities to alter their course and "pivot" towards novel approaches to enhancing resilience. The book presents shifts in ways of acquiring and analysing data, building community resilience, approaching urban planning, engaging with informality, delivering financing, and building the skills of those running cities in a post-COVID world grappling with climate impacts. In Resilience Reset, the authors encourage researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to break out of existing modes of thinking and doing that may no longer be relevant for our rapidly urbanising and dynamic world. The book draws on the latest academic and practice-based evidence to provide actionable insights for cities that will enable them to deal with multiple interacting shocks and stresses. The book will be an indispensable resource to those studying urbanisation, development, climate change and risk management as well as for those designing and deploying operational initiatives to enhance urban resilience in businesses, international organisations, civil society organisations and governments. It is a must-read for anyone interested in managing the risks of climate impacts in urban centres in the Global South.

Half of the world’s inhabitants now live in cities. In the next twenty years, the number of urban dwellers will swell to an estimated five billion people. With their inefficient transportation systems and poorly designed buildings, many cities—especially in the United States—consume enormous quantities of fossil fuels and emit high levels of greenhouse gases. But our planet is rapidly running out of the carbon-based fuels that have powered urban growth for centuries and we seem to be unable to curb our greenhouse gas emissions. Are the world’s cities headed for inevitable collapse? The authors of this spirited book don’t believe that oblivion is necessarily the destiny of urban areas. Instead, they believe that intelligent planning and visionary leadership can help cities meet the impending crises, and look to existing initiatives in cities around the world. Rather than responding with fear (as a legion of doomsaying prognosticators have done), they choose hope. First, they confront the problems, describing where we stand today in our use of oil and our contribution to climate change. They then present four possible outcomes for cities: ”collapse,” “ruralized,” “divided,” and “resilient.” In response to their scenarios, they articulate how a new “sustainable urbanism” could replace today’s “carbon-consuming urbanism.” They address in detail how new transportation systems and buildings can be feasibly developed to replace our present low efficiency systems. In conclusion, they offer ten “strategic steps” that any city can take toward greater sustainability and resilience. This is not a book filled with “blue sky” theory (although blue skies will be a welcome result of its recommendations). Rather, it is packed with practical ideas, some of which are already working in cities today. It frankly admits that our cities have problems that will worsen if they are not addressed, but it suggests that these problems are solvable. And the time to begin solving them is now.

Even with significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, a certain degree of climate change will inevitably occur. Adapting to climate change, then, will become a necessary step in reducing the vulnerability of many regions across the globe. This is especially true for urban areas where climate change has been shown to have particularly destabilizing effects. Through the identification and analysis of the most relevant impacts facing urban areas, this book makes clear the need to incorporate climate change concerns into the mainstream of local planning, governance and policy making practices. Adaptation as a workable concept within urban areas cannot be treated in isolation from the many pre-existing challenges facing cities. By offering numerous examples of ongoing adaptation programs and strategies across a wide range of contexts, the authors show the growing potential of cities in the fight against climate change. This book has its origins in a collection of papers originally presented at the Resilient Cities 2010 Congress in Bonn, Germany (May 2010), the first global forum on cities and adaptation to climate change, convened by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. In this volume, the first in a new series dedicated to this annual event, a range of contributors bring their perspectives to bear on the most pressing issues and controversies surrounding adaptation to climate change within cities. These writings will prove invaluable to anyone interested in understanding and confronting climate change at the local level.

Climate Adaptation and Resilience Across Scales provides professionals with guidance on adapting the built environment to a changing climate. This edited volume brings together practitioners and researchers to discuss climate-related resilience from the building to the city scale. This book highlights North American cases that deal with issues such as climate projections, public health, adaptive capacity of vulnerable populations, and design interventions for floodplains, making the content applicable to many locations around the world. The contributors in this book discuss topics ranging from how built environment professionals respond to a changing climate, to how the building stock may need to adapt to climate change, to how resilience is currently being addressed in the design, construction, and operations communities. The purpose of this book is to provide a better understanding of climate change impacts, vulnerability, and resilience across scales of the built environment. Architects, urban designers, planners, landscape architects, and engineers will find this a useful resource for adapting buildings and cities to a changing climate.

The role of cities in addressing climate change is increasingly recognised in international arenas, including the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the New Urban Agenda. Asia is home to many of the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change impacts and, along with Africa, will be the site of most urban population growth over the coming decades. Bringing together a range of city experiences, Responding to Climate Change in Asian Cities provides valuable insights into how cities can overcome some of the barriers to building climate resilience, including addressing the needs of vulnerable populations. The chapters are centred on an overarching understanding that adaptive urban governance is necessary for climate resilience. This requires engaging with different actors to take into account their experiences, vulnerabilities and priorities; building knowledge, including collecting and using appropriate evidence; and understanding the institutions shaping interactions between actors, from the national to the local level. The chapters draw on a mix of research methodologies, demonstrating the variety of approaches to understanding and building urban resilience that can be applied in urban settings. Bringing together a range of expert contributors, this book will be of great interest to scholars of urban studies, sustainability and environmental studies, development studies and Asian studies.