Towards Urban Climate Justice: Integrating Social Vulnerability in Climate Adaptation Planning. A case study of Oostende, Belgium.

Berta, Julie Marie L ; Neumann, Saskia

4. Term

Urban, Energy and Environmental Planning, Master

2024

2024-06-06

Climate change causes an increase in occurrence and intensity of extreme weather events, especially in densely built cities. Consequently, inequities are created as not only the exposure is different across areas, but also the sensitivity and adaptive capacity towards climate impacts, which can differ on an individual level. According to the urban climate justice perspective, these inequities need to be considered in climate adaptation planning practices, something that is currently lacking in many municipalities. This research therefore attempts at answering the question: “How can municipalities assess social vulnerability for a more just approach to climate adaptation planning?”. A case study of the coastal city of Oostende (Belgium) is employed for developing and testing a possible method for combining climate expo-sure and social vulnerability, with the goal of creating priority maps for climate adap-tation measures. This is done through literature reviews, interviews with people from the municipality and other stakeholders, case-specific data collection and analyses. The approach is feasible and easy to implement by other European coastal cities and will help planners with raising awareness for social climate vulnerability and to gain insights in problem areas, making it easier to make spatial priorities for climate adaptation measures. The method is evaluated through the lens of Urban Climate Justice, concluding that it is a valuable method for municipalities to consider social vulnerability in their climate adaptation planning.

vulnerability ; justice ; climate adaptation

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