Urban Adaptation to Extreme Heat Events

Project Information

U-ADAPT

Grant agreement ID: 101019424

DOI

10.3030/101019424

Project closed

EC signature date 13 March 2021

Start date 1 September 2021

End date 31 August 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 160 932,48

EU contribution

€ 160 932,48

Coordinated by

UNIVERSIDAD PABLO DE OLAVIDE
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - U-ADAPT (Urban Adaptation to Extreme Heat Events)

Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The U-ADAPT! project proposes a novel approach for the dynamic measuring of urban adaptation to extreme heat. Extreme Heat Events (EHE) are the deadliest weather- and climate-related hazard in Europe. In recent years, heat waves have overwhelmed the continent. For instance, the summer of 2003 saw 71,000 excess deaths across 12 countries. In the summer of 2010, another EHE claimed thousands of lives in Eastern Europe, while the 2019 European heat waves resulted in record-breaking temperatures and estimates of thousands of deaths across several countries. Projections show an alarming increase in EHE risk driven by natural and socioeconomic factors. Mitigation, adaptation, and transformative strategies need immediate implementation, but the rate of adaptation and depth of the transformation are in question. The output of this research offers a solution to evaluate the response of the cities to reduce the heat disaster risk (HDR) while also empowers citizens to audit the commitment of their cities to EHE risk reduction and reduce short- and long-term negative impacts of heat. Building on recent efforts detailing the effects of different adaptation strategies to minimize HDR, U-ADAPT! focuses on the concrete expression of adaptation to evaluate the current implementation and effectiveness of adaptation measures and strategies to reduce HDR. This is highly innovative in the field as it moves the emphasis from the study of vulnerability, resilience, and potential adaptation (adaptation capacity) of communities to the actual depth and pace of the past and current adaptation process, which creates opportunities for new insights. The lack of a comprehensive and holistic framework on adaptation to HDR and the absence of robust assessment mechanisms are likely factors of EU urban areas not successfully adapting to this threat or having implemented maladaptive practices.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The work carried out during the project included:
1. Conceptualize a theoretical framework of urban adaptation to EHE from a multi-stakeholder perspective. In this first stage, a thorough investigation of the existing literature and document analysis of city plans on HDR reduction to collate key points, identify threads of framework development, reveal which gaps can be meaningfully fulfilled,
and inform interview questions. After a stakeholder analysis to identify potential participants, a group of collaborators was asked about the quality and completedness of the suggested framework. The framework provides the basic concepts and terms to sustain the causal explanations and element connections of HDR and helps organize and structure the research project.
2. Develop a novel composite indicator that allows measuring and comparing urban adaptation to EHE across EU cities and over time. In this stage, a combination of thematic sets of variables was discussed based on the framework. The objective of this phase was to determine the local authorities' leadership and commitment in providing pathways to reduce the hazard and minimize the exposure and the vulnerability. It also serves to establish the benchmark position and evaluate the effect of public policies.
3. Evaluate the performance of the composite indicator and test the level of adaptation of urban areas with different characteristics across the EU. The third phase will entail the identification of 9 cities of varying characteristics: size, hierarchy, climate, or climate change response. To ascertain the implementation of the measures official documents from the city’s administrations were reviewed, including adaptation plans, emergency management plans, extreme heat event protocols and heat-health action plans, building codes, land use plans, air quality and sustenability plans, green infrastructure and biodiversity documents, and urban mobility plans. In addition, whenever available, noise reduction plans and strategic incentive plans were also examined. In order to evaluate the assigned scores and adjust them if necessary, selected cities were visited during the summer of 2023.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The scientific aim of U-ADAPT! was to advance and test a theoretical integrated framework to examine the actual implementation of adaptation strategies to the risk of EHE in urban areas of the European Union (EU), in the context of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA). The ultimate societal goal was to develop a model to assist cities in their responsibility to provide a safe and sustainable environment. The first pan European examination of the cities’ adaptation responses to recurrent catastrophic EHE (e.g. 2003, 2015, 2019) creates a unique interdisciplinary and replicable framework on adaptation to EHE. This allows: 1) advancing scientific knowledge on adaptation, 2) evaluating the commitment of urban areas to reduce HDR, and 3) improving citizens’ understanding of HDR adaptation and promote citizen participation. U-ADAPT! therefore entails the creation of an empowering mechanism for EU citizens to demand a safe and sustainable environment and to hold institutions accountable for the adaptation process to current and upcoming risks. U-ADAPT! is an opportunity to test the assumptions/hypotheses that urban areas are: a) not adapting at a fast-enough rate and placing their citizens at risk of EHE, and b) focusing on reactive and response-oriented approaches and not incorporating medium and long-term HDR adaptation strategies.

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