Cities’ capacity to manage climate vulnerability: experiences from participatory vulnerability assessments in the lower Göta Älv Catchment, Sweden

Abstract

Within the scope of this project, tools for conducting systematic and integrated climate vulnerability and sustainability assessments have been developed. Two municipalities in the lower Göta Älv catchment were selected as study cases. Together with representatives from key municipal departments and national government agencies, the interdisciplinary research team designed and conducted a co-production process. Results obtained using the developed tools demonstrate that conducting such a systematic assessment of the current situation and potential impacts of climate change adaptation measures would contribute to synergies between adaptation strategies and other policy arenas. Our recommendation for enhancing the capacity of local vulnerability management in Sweden is to shift foci in four fields: from static analysis of climate vulnerability to a dynamic approach to social vulnerability, from a sector-wise fragmented approach to integrated management, from a focus on technical fixes and physical measures to institutional adaptation measures, and, finally, from sustainability-blind adaptation investments to long-term sustainable climate adaptation measures. The processes and mechanisms for succeeding in this requires that knowledge be produced, shared, and managed in partly new ways, allowing stakeholders both inside and outside local government administration to voice and synergise their concerns and solutions.

Keywords:

• participatory research
• climate change vulnerability
• integrated vulnerability assessment
• socio-economic change
• adaptation

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the stakeholders who participated in this study for their assistance and for sharing their ideas. The authors also wish to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this article. The project “Enhancing cities’ capacity to manage vulnerability to climate change” was funded by the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS) (2006-4871-7662-55).