Understanding the local policy context of risk management: Competitiveness and adaptation to climate risks in the city of Karlstad, Sweden

To understand the situation of climate risk management we need to understand the priorities and politics of the wider policy context. The framing of potentially incompatible policy issues is important to take into account when analysing policy processes. In this article, we focus on two policy issues aiming at local adaptation to global forces: facilitating city competiveness and adapting to the impacts of global climate change. Global climate change always manifests itself in the local arena, which thus becomes a crucial site for adaptation to the risks connected to climate change. Adaptation has to correspond with the city policy agenda to build the attractive city through waterfront housing as a means to strengthen its competitiveness in a globalised economy. This article focuses on the relationship between pursuing competitiveness through waterfront housing and the needs to adapt to climate change in terms of contemporary and future flood risks.