Urban vulnerability and resilience to climate change

Abstract

Notwithstanding the increasing number of studies on vulnerability, there has been relatively little research focused specifically on urban vulnerability to climate change. The different lineages explored offer insights into the factors that control urban vulnerability to climate change and weather extremes effects, providing a framework to consider resilience. A new vulnerability paradigm is emerging as a useful tool for city decision-makers to analyse how their city should seek to adapt to the anticipated impacts of climate change. In the scope of the project CLICURB (Urban atmospheric quality, climate change and resilience) urban vulnerability is explored with respect to recent climate change and the relations between the concepts of vulnerability, resilience and adaptive capacity. This review and analysis contributes to the understanding of, and the general agreement amongst research communities, about the definition of these key concepts with respect to the climate change literature in urban areas.