Heidelberg Center para América Latina

Governance Lecture
29 April 2021

Stress and the city

How urban areas can adapt to climate change
and why this is not always easy

PD Dr. Marco Pütz

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL
marco.puetz@wsl.ch
STRESS AND THE CITY

Summer 2018: Tennis court closed due to water

scarcity (Photo: Julia Heimberger),
https://www.infranken.de/lk/forchheim/...

A zebra crossing melts in Delhi during extreme heat

(Photo: EPA/Harish Tyagi) https://theconversation.com/.
Flooding in Passau, Germany, June 2013 (Photo: picture-
alliance/dpa), https://www.br.de/wissen/...

Heavy rain fall in Oranienburg, Germany, 2017 (Photo: dpa),
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/...
Summer 2018: Low waters in the river Rhine,
Germany (Foto: dpa)
https://www.welt.de/regionales/nrw/...
A store burns as a bushfire tears through Paradise,
2
Calif., 8.11.2018 (Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty
Images), https://abcnews.go.com/US/...
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SHOW

1 2
How can urban Why is this not
areas adapt to always easy?
climate change?

o Conceptually: Adaptation
o Empirically: my own research, illustrations from
Switzerland (mostly)
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 COPING VS. ADAPTING

https://www.blick.ch/wirtschaft/kehrtwende-bei-hitzeschutz-sbb-verzichtet-
auf-weisse-schienen-id16001853.html (Foto: Keystone)

https://www.eskp.de/klimawandel/stadtbaeume-im-stress-9351071/ Lavell et al 2012, 51 4

(Foto: imago images/Cord)
5
ADAPTATION = ACTION + WILL + CAPACITY
Framework for identifying
adaptation options (UKCIP 2013)

6
HAZARDS
VULNERABILITY
ADAPTIVE CAPACITY

Urban climate change vulnerability and risk assessment framework (Carter et al 2015, 6) 7
1
How can urban
areas adapt to
climate change?

8
 Frost protection in vineyards, Switzerland

Photo: Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller Photo: Manuel Nagel

https://www.blick.ch/schweiz/buendner-herrschaft-in-flammen-winzer- https://www.tagblatt.ch/ostschweiz/frauenfeld-munchwilen/frostnaechte-
bekaempfen-den-frost-mit-feuer-id4969927.html schlaflos-im-rebberg-ld.769842

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Wedge shaped avalanches wall, Frauenkirche, Davos (Switzerland), 1602

Photo: Stefan Margreth, SLF 10

Saltina bridge, Brig (Switzerland), 1997

Photos: BAFU 2003

https://https://www.planat.ch/de/bilder-videos-detail/hochwasser-brig-1993/

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 FROM HAZARD MAPPING TO RISK BASED SPATIAL PLANNING

e.g. Zurich HB: low flooding risk,

but enormous damage potential

Paradigm shift in natural hazard management:

• Focus shifts from hazard to land use und damage potential
• Concretion through test plannings at the level of local land
use plans
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 Green Infrastructure «MFO-Park» in Zurich (CH)

https://www.burckhardtpartner.com/en/projects/detail/projekte/show/Projekte/new-mfo-
park-zurich/ (Photos: René Dürr, Markus Fischer, Michael Freisager) 13
 Roof garden, Augsburg (GER)

Wirtschaftsgebäude der Diakonissen Klinik Augsburg, Baujahr: 2013. Gesamtfläche: 370²

(Foto: Optigrün), Quelle: Baumüller 2019
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 Edible City, Andernach (GER) Guerilla Gardening, Zurich (CH)

© 90Grad Photography/Hilger & Schneider GbR Foto: Anita Affentranger

https://www.fr.de/ratgeber/reise/essbare-stadt-andernach- https://www.sueddeutsche.de/stil/blumen-zuerich-gaertnern-
11010560.html 1.4588200
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 Pocket Park «UPS Waterfall Garden Park» in Seattle (US)

https://tripbucket.com/dreams/dream/explore-waterfall-garden-park-seattle-washington/ 16
 Sponge city, Wuhan (China)

Aerial view of flood-prone Wuhan, sited where the Yangtze and Han rivers merge
(Photo: Sino/Getty)
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jan/23/inside-chinas-leading-sponge-
city-wuhans-war-with-water#img-1

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Floating settlement «Schoonschip» in Amsterdam (NL)

https://strobouw.nl/agenda/excursie-meet-greet/amsterdamnoord-schmid-4-2/ 18
GUIDANCE FOR PLANNERS
Guidance for adaption to climate change in spatial planning

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 A B C

Europaallee, Zürich Sächseleutenplatz, Zürich Idaplatz, Zürich

(Photo: Andrea Zahler, Tagesanzeiger) (Photo: Nathalie Taiana, NZZ) (Photo: Guntram Rehsche, Twitter)

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21
2
Why is adaptation
to climate change
not easy?

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WHY IS ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE NOT EASY?

Definition/content of climate adaptation Governance of climate adaptation

1. Because goals are not clear (Minimizing
risks? Protecting people? Increasing
adaptive capacity?)
2. Because adaptation can be different,
e.g. incremental, reformistic,
transformative (Heikkinen et al. 2019)
3. Because it is not clear, what «good»
adaptation is (vs. maladaptation)
4. Because adaptation is a cross-cutting
issue
5. Because adaptation needs policy
integraton (mainstreaming)
6. Because adaptation lacks clear
responsibilities
7. Because adaptation is not (yet) a
municipal task
8. Because implementation of federal
(national) adaptation strategies to local
levels ceases
9. Because there is also other interests

= potential success factors for adaptation to climate change

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1 WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF ADAPTATION?

Mitigation goals = Emission goals (avoid, reduce)

Adaptation goals = ?

FOEN 2012 24
2 HOW WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR ADAPTATION?
Incremental, reformistic or transformational change? (Heikkinen et al 2019)

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3 WHAT MEANS «GOOD» ADAPTATION?
Good Adaptation? Maladaptation?

Drizzle for cooling a cowshed, Basel region (2015) Technical snowmaking in December, Verbier (2011)
Photo: Juri Junkov Photo: Keystone/AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus
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 3 WHAT MEANS «GOOD» ADAPTATION?
Good Adaptation? Maladaptation?

Damage from storm «Andrea», Martigny VS (2012) Flooding, Altstätten SG (2014)

Photo: Keystone/Laurent Gillieron Photo: Keystone/Ennio Leanza

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4/5 POLICY INTEGRATION AND MAINSTRAMING

12 Challenges
9 Sectoral strategies
(BAFU 2012)

Highlights
• Focus on programmatic mainstreaming in
combination with inter-organizational
mainstreaming to foster horizontal
cooperation (cooperative mainstreaming)
• Lack of systematic regulatory and directed
mainstreaming 28
6 WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
CO2 Law
CO2 Ordinance

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6/7 WHO MANAGES ADAPTATION?

1 Interdepartmental Committe for Climate 2 Contact Persons of the Cantons

? ?

(EBP 2015)
3 Municipalities ???
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8 MAPPING GOVERNANCE OF ADAPTATION

Pilot Programme Adaption to Climate Change Switzerland

www.wsl.ch/gov-vis-cca/
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 9 Housing vs. Family Gardens (= Climate Adaptation) vs. Schools?

Zürich Freilager (Foto: Georg Aerni)

https://www.baudokumentation.ch/projekt/freilager-zuerich/661637#nch/528907790 32
 9 MISLEADING PRACTICES …

Kö-Bogen II, Düsseldorf (Ingenhofen)

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https://mein.toubiz.de/storage/media/image/be8ab156257ceabd83ffc97a86f62b3e__5ef4a34d3d0cc.jpeg
9 MISLEADING PRACTICES …

Bosco Verticale, Milano (Stefano Boeri)

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3
So?

What now?

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SUMMING UP …
The state of (urban, climat) transformations
• Significant discord in defining the policies, processes, and values that shape
practice on the ground
• Commitment to climate action varies widely across levels of government, sectors
of society, and domains of practice
• Need for societal transformation has never been greater (Ajibade & Adams, 2019;
Fazey et al., 2018; Henrique & Tschakert, 2020)
• New calls for urgent, large-scale climate adaptation, such as managed retreat and
mega-green or grey infrastructure; but this large-scale actions raise questions as to
how such projects can possibly advance more just, equitable, and sustainable cities
(Goh, 2020)
• Societal vulnerability to climate change is rooted in racial, class, caste, urban-rural,
and other socio-economic disparities that challenge solidarity, redistribution, and
collective action 36
ADAPTATION
Pelling et al. (2015) propose seven activity spheres that map where transitions
can unfold:
1) as discourse in political claim making,
2) as technological innovation,
3) as reform in administrative and legal systems,
4) as a shift in economic orientation or individual livelihood,
5) as an awakening of alternative values,
6) as restructuring in physical and
ecological systems,
7) as an assertion of new practices
and routines of behavior.

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Pelling et al. 2015, 19
TRANSFORMATIVE ADAPTATION
Six characteristics of transformative adaptation highlight opportunities to catalyze
transformative adaptation in the design and implementation of responses to climate change
(Fedele et al. 2019, 121)

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2020
2011

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Agenda 2030
(1 Jan 2016)
(Rio Summit 1992)

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 THE CITY OF TOMORROW

Imagining future cities

(Dunn, Cureton 2020)
• Technological futures
• Social futures
• Global futures
• Governance futures (who, how)

Mitchell Joachim, Post Carbon City-State: Rezoned Circular

Economy, Terreform ONE, 2018.
http://www.terreform.org/projects_urban-new-york-city-
state.html
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15 MINUTES CITY

https://www.arup.com/perspectives/the-fifteen-minute-vision-future-proofing-our-
cities?itc_source=arup.com&itc_medium=homepage_projects_carousel&itc_campaign=personalis
ation_default 42
Norman Foster’s illustration on the future of cities, exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in October 2020 43
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/24/pandemic-accelerate-evolution-cities-covid-19-norman-foster
Thank you!

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