IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/masfgc/v20y2015i1p75-97.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Barriers and opportunities for urban adaptation planning: analytical framework and evidence from cities in Latin America and Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Lehmann
  • Miriam Brenck
  • Oliver Gebhardt
  • Sven Schaller
  • Elisabeth Süßbauer

Abstract

This paper analyzes barriers and opportunities for effective adaptation planning in cities. In particular, we focus on the preparation and adoption of adaptation strategies and action plans by urban planners. For this purpose, we develop a two-tier framework of variables influencing decision-making. The framework emphasizes interaction between different commonly discussed categories of barriers (or opportunities) and their sources. We argue that whether or not urban planners take action to foster adaptation to climate change depends on three first-tier variables: information, resources, and incentives. In addition, we point out that each of these variables may itself be a function of a set of underlying second-tier variables, including actor-specific characteristics of the decision-maker, the institutional environment, and the natural and socio-economic environment. Within this framework, we specify barriers and opportunities for effective adaptation planning as hampering or promoting characteristics of these first- and second-tier variables. We apply and test the framework within the context of four case studies carried out in Lima (Peru), Santiago (Chile), Berlin and Sangerhausen (both Germany). We present anecdotal evidence, which we have gained from expert interviews in the cities. Our results indicate that the relevant categories of barriers are mainly the same across developing and developed countries. What differs is their severity. Moreover, we confirm the importance of the institutional context, including barriers and opportunities associated mainstreaming adaptation, multi-level governance and participation. Finally, our analysis reveals barriers that are specific for local or urban adaptation action, such as the strong dependency on the national regulatory framework. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Lehmann & Miriam Brenck & Oliver Gebhardt & Sven Schaller & Elisabeth Süßbauer, 2015. "Barriers and opportunities for urban adaptation planning: analytical framework and evidence from cities in Latin America and Germany," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 75-97, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:masfgc:v:20:y:2015:i:1:p:75-97
    DOI: 10.1007/s11027-013-9480-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11027-013-9480-0
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11027-013-9480-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ingrid Koch & Coleen Vogel & Zarina Patel, 2007. "Institutional dynamics and climate change adaptation in South Africa," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 12(8), pages 1323-1339, October.
    2. Jan Corfee-Morlot & Ian Cochran & Stéphane Hallegatte & Pierre-Jonathan Teasdale, 2011. "Multilevel risk governance and urban adaptation policy," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 104(1), pages 169-197, January.
    3. Thomas Measham & Benjamin Preston & Timothy Smith & Cassandra Brooke & Russell Gorddard & Geoff Withycombe & Craig Morrison, 2011. "Adapting to climate change through local municipal planning: barriers and challenges," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 16(8), pages 889-909, December.
    4. Thomas G Measham & Benjamin L Preston & Cassandra Brooke & Tim F Smith & Craig Morrison & Geoff Withycombe & Russell Gorddard, 2010. "Adapting to Climate Change Through Local Municipal Planning: Barriers and Opportunities," Socio-Economics and the Environment in Discussion (SEED) Working Paper Series 2010-05, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems.
    5. Jordán Fuchs, Ricardo & Rehner, Johannes & Samaniego, Joseluis, 2010. "Regional Panorama: Latin America. Megacities and sustainability," Documentos de Proyectos 3856, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    6. Susanna Reid & Barry Smit & Wayne Caldwell & Suzanne Belliveau, 2007. "Vulnerability and adaptation to climate risks in Ontario agriculture," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 609-637, May.
    7. Daniel Osberghaus & Astrid Dannenberg & Tim Mennel & Bodo Sturm, 2010. "The Role of the Government in Adaptation to Climate Change," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 28(5), pages 834-850, October.
    8. Oecd, 2009. "Climate Change and Africa," OECD Journal: General Papers, OECD Publishing, vol. 2009(1), pages 5-35.
    9. Gawel, Erik & Heuson, Clemens & Lehmann, Paul, 2012. "Efficient public adaptation to climate change: An investigation of drivers and barriers from a Public Choice perspective," UFZ Discussion Papers 14/2012, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    10. Darryn McEvoy & Piotr Matczak & Ilona Banaszak & Adam Chorynski, 2010. "Framing adaptation to climate-related extreme events," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 15(7), pages 779-795, October.
    11. Falaleeva, Maria & O'Mahony, Cathal & Gray, Stefan & Desmond, Margaret & Gault, Jeremy & Cummins, Valerie, 2011. "Towards climate adaptation and coastal governance in Ireland: Integrated architecture for effective management?," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 784-793, December.
    12. Alistair Hunt & Paul Watkiss, 2011. "Climate change impacts and adaptation in cities: a review of the literature," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 104(1), pages 13-49, January.
    13. Klaus Eisenack & Rebecca Stecker, 2012. "A framework for analyzing climate change adaptations as actions," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 243-260, March.
    14. Heuson, Clemens & Gawel, Erik & Gebhardt, Oliver & Hansjürgens, Bernd & Lehmann, Paul & Meyer, Volker & Schwarze, Reimund, 2012. "Fundamental questions on the economics of climate adaptation: Outlines of a new research programme," UFZ Reports 05/2012, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jorge Salas & Víctor Yepes, 2020. "Enhancing Sustainability and Resilience through Multi-Level Infrastructure Planning," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-22, February.
    2. Boehnke, Denise & Jehling, Mathias & Vogt, Joachim, 2023. "What hinders climate adaptation? Approaching barriers in municipal land use planning through participant observation," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    3. Jana Lorena Werg & Torsten Grothmann & Stefan Löchtefeld, 2021. "Fostering Self-Protection against Impacts of Heavy Rain at the Municipal Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-16, June.
    4. Bhave, Ajay Gajanan & Conway, Declan & Dessai, Suraje & Stainforth, David A., 2017. "Barriers and opportunities for robust decision making approaches to support climate change adaptation in the developing world," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 68318, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Eakin, Hallie & Keele, Svenja & Lueck, Vanessa, 2022. "Uncomfortable knowledge: Mechanisms of urban development in adaptation governance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    6. García Sánchez, Francisco & Govindarajulu, Dhanapal, 2023. "Integrating blue-green infrastructure in urban planning for climate adaptation: Lessons from Chennai and Kochi, India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    7. Cavalcante, Ana Helena A. P., 2015. "Barriers and opportunities for climate adaptation: The water crisis in Greater São Paulo," The Constitutional Economics Network Working Papers 04-2015, University of Freiburg, Department of Economic Policy and Constitutional Economic Theory.
    8. Bo Zhong & Shuang Wu & Geng Sun & Ning Wu, 2022. "Farmers’ Strategies to Climate Change and Urbanization: Potential of Ecosystem-Based Adaptation in Rural Chengdu, Southwest China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-21, January.
    9. Camila Flórez Bossio & James Ford & Danielle Labbé, 2019. "Adaptive capacity in urban areas of developing countries," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 279-297, November.
    10. Gilles Desthieux & Florent Joerin, 2022. "Urban planning in Swiss cities has been slow to think about climate change: why and what to do?," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 12(4), pages 692-713, December.
    11. Sining C. Cuevas, 2016. "The interconnected nature of the challenges in mainstreaming climate change adaptation: evidence from local land use planning," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 661-676, June.
    12. Taedong Lee & Sara Hughes, 2017. "Perceptions of urban climate hazards and their effects on adaptation agendas," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 761-776, June.
    13. Christoph Oberlack, 2017. "Diagnosing institutional barriers and opportunities for adaptation to climate change," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 805-838, June.
    14. Gawel, Erik & Lehmann, Paul & Strunz, Sebastian & Heuson, Clemens, 2018. "Public Choice barriers to efficient climate adaptation – theoretical insights and lessons learned from German flood disasters," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(3), pages 473-499, June.
    15. Erlwein, Sabrina & Meister, Juliane & Wamsler, Christine & Pauleit, Stephan, 2023. "Governance of densification and climate change adaptation: How can conflicting demands for housing and greening in cities be reconciled?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gawel, Erik & Heuson, Clemens & Lehmann, Paul, 2012. "Efficient public adaptation to climate change: An investigation of drivers and barriers from a Public Choice perspective," UFZ Discussion Papers 14/2012, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    2. Lehmann, Paul & Brenck, Miriam & Gebhardt, Oliver & Schaller, Sven & Süßbauer, Elisabeth, 2012. "Understanding barriers and opportunities for adaptation planning in cities," UFZ Discussion Papers 19/2012, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    3. Heuson, Clemens & Gawel, Erik & Gebhardt, Oliver & Hansjürgens, Bernd & Lehmann, Paul & Meyer, Volker & Schwarze, Reimund, 2012. "Ökonomische Grundfragen der Klimaanpassung: Umrisse eines neuen Forschungsprogramms," UFZ Reports 02/2012, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ).
    4. Heuson, Clemens & Gawel, Erik & Gebhardt, Oliver & Hansjürgens, Bernd & Lehmann, Paul & Meyer, Volker & Schwarze, Reimund, 2012. "Fundamental questions on the economics of climate adaptation: Outlines of a new research programme," UFZ Reports 05/2012, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ).
    5. Gawel, Erik & Lehmann, Paul & Strunz, Sebastian & Heuson, Clemens, 2018. "Public Choice barriers to efficient climate adaptation – theoretical insights and lessons learned from German flood disasters," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(3), pages 473-499, June.
    6. James Ford & Diana King, 2015. "A framework for examining adaptation readiness," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 505-526, April.
    7. Christoph Oberlack, 2017. "Diagnosing institutional barriers and opportunities for adaptation to climate change," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 805-838, June.
    8. Taedong Lee & Sara Hughes, 2017. "Perceptions of urban climate hazards and their effects on adaptation agendas," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 761-776, June.
    9. Hirte, Georg & Nitzsche, Eric & Tscharaktschiew, Stefan, 2018. "Optimal adaptation in cities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 147-169.
    10. Juita -Elena (Wie) Yusuf & Burton St. John, 2017. "Stuck on options and implementation in Hampton Roads, Virginia: an integrated conceptual framework for linking adaptation capacity, readiness, and barriers," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 7(3), pages 450-460, September.
    11. Nurrohman Wijaya & Vilas Nitivattananon & Rajendra Prasad Shrestha & Sohee Minsun Kim, 2020. "Drivers and Benefits of Integrating Climate Adaptation Measures into Urban Development: Experience from Coastal Cities of Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-16, January.
    12. Giovanni Pilato & Susannah M. Sallu & Marta Gaworek-Michalczenia, 2018. "Assessing the Integration of Climate Change and Development Strategies at Local Levels: Insights from Muheza District, Tanzania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-25, January.
    13. Daniel Osberghaus, 2017. "Prospect theory, mitigation and adaptation to climate change," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(7), pages 909-930, July.
    14. Oberlack, Christoph & Neumärker, Bernhard, 2013. "A diagnostic approach to the institutional analysis of climate adaptation," The Constitutional Economics Network Working Papers 01-2013, University of Freiburg, Department of Economic Policy and Constitutional Economic Theory.
    15. Thomas Bausch & Karin Koziol, 2020. "New Policy Approaches for Increasing Response to Climate Change in Small Rural Municipalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-17, March.
    16. Hayley Leck & David Simon, 2013. "Fostering Multiscalar Collaboration and Co-operation for Effective Governance of Climate Change Adaptation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(6), pages 1221-1238, May.
    17. Chloe B. Wardropper & Adena R. Rissman, 2019. "Adaptations to extreme storm events by conservation organizations," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 85-101, January.
    18. Marta Olazabal & Sonia De Gregorio Hurtado & Eduardo Olazabal & Filomena Pietrapertosa & Monica Salvia & Davide Geneletti & Valentina D?Alonzo & Efrén Feliú & Senatro Di Leo & Diana Reckien, 2014. "How are Italian and Spanish cities tackling climate change? A local comparative study," Working Papers 2014-03, BC3.
    19. Stephanie E. Austin & Robbert Biesbroek & Lea Berrang-Ford & James D. Ford & Stephen Parker & Manon D. Fleury, 2016. "Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change in OECD Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-20, September.
    20. Antje Otto & Kristine Kern & Wolfgang Haupt & Peter Eckersley & Annegret H. Thieken, 2021. "Ranking local climate policy: assessing the mitigation and adaptation activities of 104 German cities," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-23, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:masfgc:v:20:y:2015:i:1:p:75-97. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.