Assessing the impact of climate change on cities To minimise the consequences that climate change will have on urban regions, it is important to measure the costs of such effects and related preventative actions. An EU initiative is quantifying the costs of climate change impacts and adaptation in cities. Climate Change and Environment © Thinkstock Climate change is bringing about socioeconomic changes, making people, property and ecosystems in and around cities more vulnerable. Evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of urban adaptation actions that decrease vulnerability and limit the effects of climate change are challenging and complex. With EU funding, the 'Reconciling adaptation, mitigation and sustainable development for cities' (RAMSES) project is designing an approach to quantify risks, vulnerabilities and damage from climate change. It also aims to assess the associated costs and benefits of various urban adaptation measures. To achieve this, the project is employing generic principles that are transferable across cities. As such, eight case studies will be conducted in cities in Europe, India, and North and South America. During the first reporting period, work began on the development of a cost assessment framework for adaptation to climate change in urban areas. The framework serves as a basis for the entire project. The focus of the first phase is on climate threats that are relevant to Europe, namely flooding, windstorms and extreme temperatures. The team has developed a defined set of impact functions for cities to estimate damages due to natural hazards. An overview was presented of the most relevant indicators in architecture and infrastructure currently used in climate change research and needs. These concern the urban environment with respect to adaptation challenges. New and simplified typologies for buildings and infrastructure based on different climatic impacts have been developed. Three urban climate models aimed at forecasting future climate and calculating adaptation impacts in cities were successfully validated in several case study cities. A review was also made of climate change and adaptation costs for European cities. RAMSES will ultimately improve understanding of urban systems and determine the impact of climate change and the costs and benefits of adaptation and mitigation in cities. Keywords Climate change, cities, urban adaptation, sustainable development, urban areas
