Building Climate Resilience for Urban Communities - Localization of Resilience Assessment for sustainable, adaptive, and inclusive development

Nuha Eltinay

Moderator

November 7, 2024 | 13:00 - 14:30

Multipurpose room 12

ICLEI European Secretariat

Germany

English

Reference:

NE 12-07

WUF12

Networking Events

Summary

Aimed at enhancing climate resilience in communities through a comprehensive and participatory approach and global partnerships, this event is aimed to share experiences from cities joining the Z Zurich Foundation Urban Climate Resilience Program (UCRP) that is currently taking place in nine countries around the world: Australia, Colombia, Ecuador, Italy, Malaysia, Spain, Turkey, the UK, and the US. The program focuses on mapping communities’ climate resilience vulnerabilities to floods, heat waves and wildfires, and working directly with local authorities to help them tackle multi-dimensional challenges, in collaborations between key stakeholders in the public and private sectors.
In doing so climate adaptation challenges will be identified, and resilience solutions will be co-created to influence the ways cities urban systems can be adapted to climate extreme events. The project's main aim is to analyze how selected communities operate during an extreme event, and to help develop the right interventions to plug those gaps. The Foundation's four-step, tailored approach is:
1. Identify communities in need and engage with them,
2. Gather information to conduct an in-depth analysis of each community’s climate-related issues,
3. Plan, develop, and deliver customized solutions which enable communities to build resilience,
4. Capture learning and scale the project in collaboration with the public and private sector.
Sharing experience from cities in Europe, Australia and the Middle East, the significance of local representatives and leaders' role (formal/informal) as key stakeholders in urban transformation and climate resilience efforts will be emphasized. The session will share lessons learned and strategies applied for enhancing the capacity and involvement of local representatives in promoting sustainable urbanization. We also aim to showcase real stories on how resilience assessment and co-development of climate adaptation solutions can support the empowerment of local leaders in fostering inclusive, resilient, and sustainable communities, and harness their potential as catalysts for positive change at the local level.

Objectives

Falling under the ‘Cities and the Climate Crisis’ Dialogue, the session will aim to achieve the following objectives in addressing the key question: “How can localization drive effective climate action to secure sustainable, safe, resilient and environmentally just cities and communities for all?”
1. Learning lessons on how to identify communities in need in Urban Settings, and the challenges faced in engaging with them.
2. Define limitations and key actions required to gather information and conduct in-depth analysis of urban communities’ climate vulnerabilities.
3. Guidance to plan, develop, and deliver customized solutions which enable communities to build resilience through open dialogues on vulnerabilities, equality, and the ethical dimensions of disaster management, can create more equitable, resilient urban and rural landscapes.
4. Capture best practices on knowledge exchange, global partnerships, and upscaling in collaboration with the public and private sectors.