Global climate change creates new challenges in particular for cities and regions. As centres of human activity they are especially vulnerable to climate change impacts. Adapting to a changing climate requires dealing with multiple uncertainties and complexity in order to allow proactive action. Therefore, cities and regions around the globe face the challenge of exploring flexible and innovative forms of governance which have to address specific local or regional vulnerabilities and build capacity to accommodate future change. This raises questions about the roles of stakeholders, the involvement of citizens, the composition and use of formal and informal instruments as well as the implementation of different forms of organization and regulation at the local and regional level. This book provides case studies from cities and regions all around the world. It analyses climate change adaptation from a perspective of organizing, administering and implementing local and regional adaptation strategies and measures. It looks into actors, actor-constellations, institutions and networks of climate adaptation. And, it provides the reader with knowledge about good practices and experiences to be transferred for solving adaptation challenges in cities and regions around the globe.

Global climate change creates new challenges in particular for cities and regions. As centres of human activity they are especially vulnerable to climate change impacts. Adapting to a changing climate requires dealing with multiple uncertainties and complexity in order to allow proactive action. Therefore, cities and regions around the globe face the challenge of exploring flexible and innovative forms of governance which have to address specific local or regional vulnerabilities and build capacity to accommodate future change.This raises questions about the roles of stakeholders, the involvement of citizens, the composition and use of formal and informal instruments as well as the implementation of different forms of organization and regulation at the local and regional level.This book provides case studies from cities and regions all around the world. It analyses climate change adaptation from a perspective of organizing, administering and implementing local and regional adaptation strategies and measures. It looks into actors, actor-constellations, institutions and networks of climate adaptation. And, it provides the reader with knowledge about good practices and experiences to be transferred for solving adaptation challenges in cities and regions around the globe.

List of contributors, ix1 Climate adaptation governance in cities and regions: framework conditions, theoretical concepts and research questions 1Jörg Knieling and Katharina KlindworthPart 1: Theoretical basis2 Applying social resilience concepts and indicators to support climate adaptation in tropical North Queensland, Australia 23Allan Patrick Dale, Karen Vella, Ruth Potts, Bronwyn Voyce, Bob Stevenson, Alison Cottrell, David King, Hurriyet Babacan, Helen Boon, Margaret Gooch and Petina Pert3 Spatial planning to promote urban resilience in coping with climate change and flooding: exploring two cases in Kaohsiung, Taiwan 45Peiwen Lu4 Adaptation to climate change and participatory action research (PAR): lessons from municipalities in Quebec, Canada 69Steve Plante, Liette Vasseur and Charlotte DaCunha5 Generating narratives on future risk to inform regional climate change adaptation planning 89Douglas K. Bardsley, Nathanael D. Wiseman and Graeme J. Hugo6 Advancing climate change adaptation and climate risk understanding through intervention research: case studies from Brazil and Australia 113Silvia Serrao-Neumann, Gabriela Marques Di Giulio, Lucia Costa Ferreira and Darryl Low Choy7 Climate adaptation and the significance of different modes of local political leadership: views of Swedish local political leaders 131Mattias Hjerpe and Sofie StorbjörkPart 2: Hierarchical forms of coordination8 Regulating climate change adaptation, the case of surface water 155Trude Rauken9 Climate adaptation governance - theory, concepts, and praxis in cities and regions. The role of climate and water governance in supporting climate change adaptation processes 171Walter Leal Filho, Margot A. Hurlbert and Harry Diaz10 Climate problem and territorial governance: an overview of adaptation initiatives at the French regional level 191François Bertrand, Elsa Richard and Corinne Larrue11 Regional rescaling in adaptation governance: from agency to collaborative control in flood management in England? 209Irene Lorenzoni, David Benson and Hadrian Cook12 From case studies to policy-making: adapting to climate change in Lithuania 223Justas Ka?ys, Egidijus Rimkus and Julija Naujëkaitë13 The rise and fall of climate adaptation governance on the Gold Coast, Australia 237Michael Howes and Aysin Dedekorkut-Howes14 Climate change adaptation in private real estate development: essential concepts about development for feasible research, regulation and governance 251Eddo Coiacetto15 Pro-poor climate change adaptation in Zambia 267Danny SimatelePart 3: Informal and corporative forms of coordination16 Climate change adaptation through hierarchies and networks in the city of Bergen 287Marte Winsvold, Kari Johanne Hjeltnes, Jan Erling Klausen and Ove Langeland17 Influence of citizens and stakeholders in shaping adaptation policy - opportunities and barriers 305Søren Gram, Bjørn Bedsted and Andreas Hastrup Clemmensen18 Public participation in the governance of metropolitan scale climate adaptation: panacea or problem? 317Paul Burton and Johanna Nalau19 Governance for (climate) change in American "Legacy" cities: a case study of Cleveland 333Sanda Kaufman20 Governance of climate change adaptation on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) 355Ilan Kelman21 Adaptation in small coastal towns in Australia 371Janet Stanley22 Transnational learning for climate change adaptation in the Baltic Sea Region 389Stefanie Lange Scherbenske and Lisa Van WellPart 4: Findings of Climate Change Adaptation in Cities and Regions23 Climate adaptation governance in cities and regions between hierarchical steering and network cooperation: findings from theoretical considerations and international practice 405Jörg Knieling and Katharina KlindworthIndex, 421