Get involved!

This section of the website is where you can find out about how to get involved in Adaptation Strategies for European Cities project (ASEC).

EU Cities Adapt Final Conference,

Gustav-Stresemann-Institute, Bonn, 3 June 2013

The Final Conference for the EU Cities Adapt project will be held on 3 June 2013 as part of the Open European Day, which is adjacent to the Resilient Cities 2013 Conference.

For more information click here.

The official conference flyer can be downloaded here.

Survey on Adaptation strategies for European Cities

Over 196 responses to the survey were received from cities across Europe, the majority of which were from the Mediterranean (41%) and North-western Europe (23%). 81% out of the 196 cities have experienced periods of hot weather and heat waves. They expect this to be the main impact over the next 30 years that they will have to deal with. Looking ahead 71% of cities surveyed expect an increase in periods of reduced water availability as well. Around a third of the cities do not believe that there is sufficient support in the form of networks and task forces, funding or specific adaptation guidance or tools for adaptation planning in their cities. There is a lack of budget and resources to prepare for the impacts of climate change. 20% of the 196 cities surveyed do not have resources allocated yet to implement their strategy and just 1% have resources fully allocated also beyond current budgeting period. Insufficient guidance and tools at all levels and a lack of political commitment are considered the main barriers. 14% of cities have an adaptation strategy which is mandatory due to a legal obligation; others (34%) have made a public commitment to voluntarily produce an adaptation strategy.

Vulnerability and geography were named as the most important characteristics to find like-minded cities to engage with on adaptation. Interestingly, language was not identified as a major inhibitor to engagement. Only 8% of the cities surveyed had not started thinking or working on adaptation. Around a quarter (24%) report that their city has already adopted an adaptation strategy. Of those, most are still in the very early stages (47%). As yet, in comparison to the other timescales for risk assessments, only 2% have undertaken risk assessments for key issues/city sub-sector (such as buildings, water supplies, health etc.) over the next 50 years or longer. From the respondents surveyed, cities tend to be focusing more on risk assessments over the next 10 years and predominantly for sewage, city-owned buildings, energy supplies, and water supplies. The most common form to engage with different groups on the plans for their adaptation strategies are workshops. Appetite for participating in the project is very high. 54% said they would be keen to participate in workshops and stakeholder dialogues. Activities identified to increase capacity include: sharing information and experience via a web portal (67%) and bilateral exchange with another city (48%). Respondents identified the two top training needs as help with developing adaptation options (63%), and help with implementing adaptation measures (58%).