ClimateCafe: An interdisciplinary educational tool for sustainable climate adaptation and lessons learned

Abstract

ClimateCafe is a field education concept involving different fields of science and practice for capacity building in climate change adaptation. This concept is applied on the eco-city of Augustenborg in Malmo, Sweden, where Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) were implemented in 1998. ClimateCafe Malmo evaluated these NBS with 20 young professionals from nine nationalities and seven disciplines with a variety of practical tools. In two days, 175 NBS were mapped and categorised in Malmo. Results show that the selected green infrastructure have a satisfactory infiltration capacity and low values of potential toxic element pollutants after 20 years in operation. The question "Is capacity building achieved by interdisciplinary field experience related to climate change adaptation?" was answered by interviews, collecting data of water quality, pollution, NBS and heat stress mapping, and measuring infiltration rates, followed by discussion. The interdisciplinary workshops with practical tools provide a tangible value to the participants and are needed to advance sustainability efforts. Long term lessons learnt from Augustenborg will help stormwater managers within planning of NBS. Lessons learned from this ClimateCafe will improve capacity building on climate change adaptation in the future. This paper offers a method and results to prove the German philosopher Friedrich Hegel wrong when he opined that "we learn from history that we do not learn from history. "