Abstract
While there is general agreement on the necessity for local adaptation, there is a wide range of different understandings of what type of adaptation is seen as legitimate. It is often contested who should actively steer and take part in local adaptation, for which reasons and based on what kind of mandate, and with which methods. Planning theory can serve as a helpful reference point for examining the sources of legitimacy for adaptation in an urban context. From a planning perspective, adaptation is concerned with climate change as one out of many issues planning has to respond to. The layered co-existence of planning paradigms in practice suggests diverse, sometimes contradictory sources of legitimacy for urban planning and—as we claim here—also for climate change adaptation. This study examines the legitimacy of adaptation from a planning theoretical perspective in Helsinki, drawing on semi-structured interviews and social network analysis to show how adaptation is commonly understood from a rationalist perspective as an apolitical activity with local authorities’ experts designing and implementing adaptation. Nevertheless, some of the central actors understand adaptation as a communicative activity and a common deliberation of solutions. The co-occurrence of disparate paradigms results in ambiguous legitimacy that can impede the successful implementation of local climate change adaptation.
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Notes
A concept borrowed from Hajer (2006).
The interviews were conducted in Finnish. The quotations in the article have been translated by the authors.
The discrepancy between the number of recipients and the number of actors in the roster of the questionnaire can be explained as follows: (1) the roster of the questionnaire included only “Public Works Department (PWD)”, but it was sent to representatives of two sub-departments of the PWD (PWD Administration Division and PWD Construction Management); (2) the roster of questionnaire included only “Real Estate Department (RED)”, but it was sent to representatives of two sub-departments of the RED (RED Premises Centre and RED Geotechnical Division); (3) the roster of questionnaire included only “Citizens” as generic group, but it was sent to two citizens’ associations (Mellunmäki citizens association and Viikki citizens association). These organisations are represented as separate nodes in the network illustration. The discrepancy between the answer options in the questionnaire and the network illustration might lead to an overrepresentation of the above mentioned groups.
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Acknowledgments
The preparation of this publication has been supported by the Norden Top-level Research Initiative sub-programme “Effect Studies and Adaptation to Climate Change” through the Nordic Centre of Excellence for Strategic Adaptation Research (NORD-STAR). We would like to thank: Mia Landauer, who conducted the interviews jointly with Johannes Klein; Arho Toikka, who provided valuable comments for the design of the network questionnaire; the colleagues at Land Use Planning and Urban Studies group for the discussions about legitimacy; the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
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Klein, J., Mäntysalo, R. & Juhola, S. Legitimacy of urban climate change adaptation: a case in Helsinki. Reg Environ Change 16, 815–826 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-015-0797-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-015-0797-y