Guide for Climate-Resilient Cities: An Urban Critical Infrastructures Approach

Lomba-Fernández Lomba-Fernández,Labaka Labaka,Hernantes Hernantes

doi:10.3390/su11174727

Lomba-Fernández Lomba-Fernández, Labaka Labaka + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su11174727

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Abstract

Climate change (CC) is one of the most challenging issues ever faced, as it affects every system worldwide at any scale. Urban areas are not an exception. Extreme weather-related events have seriously affected urban areas in recent years, and they have a significant impact on the welfare of people. According to UN projections, by 2050 more than 68% of the world’s population could be concentrated in urban areas. Additionally, daily life in urban areas is highly dependent on certain critical services and products provided by critical infrastructures (CIs). Therefore, it is especially relevant to understand how CC affects urban CIs in order to develop mechanisms to improve their capacity to handle crises derived from CC. In this context, resilience-based strategies provide a holistic approach, considering both predictable and unpredictable threats. This paper proposes a guide for assessing and enhancing the resilience level of cities against CC, considering urban CIs as key agents in improving the city’s capacity to face and recover from CC-related crises. The guide was developed through a co-creation process in which two cities in the Basque Country (Spain) worked together with CI providers and other relevant stakeholders in the resilience-building process. The resulting guide is to be used by city stakeholders at a strategic level, providing them with: (1) a qualitative assessment of the city’s current resilience level in the CC context; (2) better knowledge about urban CI sectors, their interdependency relationships and the chain of impacts due to cascading effects in the short, medium and in the long term and; (3) a set of policies that enhance city resilience.

Highlights

The latest scientific evidence attests to the fact that climate change (CC) is a reality and one of the biggest challenges that societies will ever have to face
Projected climate scenarios for the 30 years pointed out in the last IPCC report highlight the seriousness of the foreseen impacts and demand urgent action be taken to slow down the effects of CC and, at the same time, face its impacts [1]
This paper proposes a guide to help cities to bring resilience into action by considering urban critical infrastructures (CIs) TashiksepyaapgeernptsrotopocsoepseawgiuthidCeCto-rheelalptedcitcireissetos abnridngmraeisnitlaieinncceitiinzteonsa’cwtioenlfabrye.considering urban CIs as key agents to cope with CC-related crises and maintain citizens’ welfare

Summary

Introduction

The latest scientific evidence attests to the fact that climate change (CC) is a reality and one of the biggest challenges that societies will ever have to face. Some of the impacts that are already visible are the rising sea levels, the diminishing of Artic sea ice or more extreme weather events (in terms of an increase in the frequency and intensity of the extreme events and in the likelihood of extremely hot days and nights) [2] In this sense, CC entails a massive challenge on a global scale that must be treated in a crosscutting manner. According to the most recent World Urbanization Prospects report put out by the United Nations (2018) [3], more than 68% of the world’s population will be living in urban areas by 2050 In this way, in European cities CC is considered to be the biggest threat to sustainability, conditioning the improvement of citizens’ quality of life and economic competitiveness [4]. Taking actions against CC will be a priority in city agendas for the 10 years

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