Introduction: Frameworks for Local Action – Challenges and Proactive Recommendations

Abstract

As a relatively new field, the tools, language, and conceptual frameworks associated with adaptation to climate change are still in a state of development. Institutional and academic focus on adaptation has traditionally been grounded in rural settings and conceived in terms of disaster risk management and response, technological innovation, and the implementation of ‘hard’ solutions to pending climate impacts. While focus has since shifted to climate-related impacts in urban contexts, the problem of urban adaptation remains largely defined as a physical one, concerned with protecting the built fabric and urban form of cities. A great deal of attention has focused on the fortification of critical infrastructure – roads, bridges, urban drainage systems, coastlines – to protect against rising sea levels, flooding and drought, heightened temperatures and other impacts associated with climate change.