The outcome of successful climate adaptation is resilience; the ability to self-organize, reduce vulnerabilities and manage disturbances now and in the future, those both foreseen and unexpected.  The CityLink’s program focus on adaptation to anthropogenic climate change in urban systems provides a pioneering opportunity for innovation in pragmatic methods to develop adaptation capacity and strengthen resilience in developing cities.

In my experience, cities expose the dynamic cross-cutting nature of climate change.  As such, one perspective can view climate change as a “threat multiplier,” exacerbating many already complex economic and social pressures across various sectors such as water and sanitation, civil security or the displacement of periurban agriculture.   On the other hand, the identification of climate risks and the mapping of vulnerabilities in urban systems presents special development opportunities that can:

• Increase civil society’s participation in determining public policy.
• Correct past maladaptations, such as over-prioritizing private transportation, draining wetlands or paving over green areas.
• Catalyze new industries and infrastructure projects, for example, the construction of BRT networks, purple pipe irrigation systems or the distributed generation of renewable energies.
• Capture values from a more efficient use of scarce resources by converting waste streams into resources, like diverting waste organics to compost, installing landfill gas to energy (LFGtE) systems or turning brownfields into urban orchards.

And because the burden of climate change is often on the most vulnerable sectors of society, these opportunities enable a more equitable development for our rapidly growing cities.

One illuminating method for contextualizing the impact of climate change is by looking at urban metabolism and how resource flows and relationships with ecosystem services change as economies modernize.  This is a valuable tool for generating discussion between diverse stakeholders and their changing relationships with the city.

                               I  - inflows                                          B   - biomass

                              O - outflows                                       M  - minerals

                              Q - internal flows                                W  - water

                               S - storage                                          E   - energy

                               P - production

*Urban Metabolism Workshop, MIT, Jan 12-13, 2010

Climate change is having increasingly significant socio-economic impacts in cities.  Adaptation capacity is a key element in the changing urban fitness landscape.  Innovation in this arena is achieved with the use of coordinating frameworks that enable the full participation of stakeholders from the communities to develop local solutions.   For this purpose, ISC designed the Leadership Academy model to build the capacity of local governments and their partners to create and implement innovative solutions. 

We look forward to working in partnership with ICMA, Land O’Lakes, the American Public Works Association, partner cities and the roster of technical experts to innovate resilience to climate change by facilitating local solutions.