The increased flood experiences in Denmark have led to the demand of municipal climate adaptation plans. The thesis focuses on the municipalities' experiences with their climate adaptation plan and a frontrunner municipality's management of the climate adaptation transition through Loorbach's Transition Management theory. The goal of the thesis is to provide the Danish municipalities with a framework to use through the adaptation transition.
The following research questions are formulated to clarify this: How well are the municipalities within the Capital Region of Denmark planning their actions in the climate adaptation plan; and how have the water utility, companies, citizens, and housing associations been mobilised and utilised through governance activities by a frontrunner municipality in the transition towards successful climate adaptation actions? Finally, what characterises a frontrunner municipality in relation to climate adaptation actions?
A comparative evaluation analysis through ten indicators makes it possible to score the adaptation actions within the climate adaptation plan for the 29 municipalities within the Capital Region. Five frontrunner municipalities are found: Copenhagen, Brøndby, Frederiksberg, Vallensbæk and Gladsaxe.
A case study of Gladsaxe Municipality clarifies their frontrunner status. Gladsaxe and Nordvand water utility have had a very strong collaboration, which strengthen the transition. It is found that the climate adaptation group, which consists of employees from different departments in Gladsaxe Municipality and Nordvand, has led to an innovative, strong process of creating the transition vision, transition agenda (the climate adaptation plan) and transition paths (the actions within the plan). Furthermore, the municipality has focused on involving the citizens, companies etc., which has been vital for the frontrunner transition work. Gladsaxe has had an innovative process approach towards the three first clusters of the Transition Management theory: strategic, tactical and operational, but needs to improve the reflexive cluster.
The characteristics of a frontrunner municipality are gathered in nine goals, as a framework for other municipalities to adopt and adjust to their own climate adaptation transition situation. The nine goals are:
1. Giving direction to future planning
2. Reframing rain as a resource
3. Translating the vision into content
4. Building the agenda
5. Networking with other actors
6. Innovate new solutions
7. Develop transformational projects
8. Involve and engage other actors
9. Adjustment of the transition