Identifying barriers and potentials of integrated assessments of sustainable urban development and adaptation to rising sea levels

Current adaptation responses to sea-level rise tend to focus on protecting existing infrastructure resulting in unsustainable adaptation pathways. At the same time, urban development compromises a city’s adaptive capacity if the climate risk component is ignored. While fighting for the same space, t...

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Main Authors: Anna Lea Eggert, Roland Löwe, Karsten Arnbjerg-Nielsen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2023-04-01
Series:Ecological Indicators
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23002200
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author Anna Lea Eggert
Roland Löwe
Karsten Arnbjerg-Nielsen
author_facet Anna Lea Eggert
Roland Löwe
Karsten Arnbjerg-Nielsen
author_sort Anna Lea Eggert
collection DOAJ
description Current adaptation responses to sea-level rise tend to focus on protecting existing infrastructure resulting in unsustainable adaptation pathways. At the same time, urban development compromises a city’s adaptive capacity if the climate risk component is ignored. While fighting for the same space, these two domains are currently widely analyzed separately. This paper develops a framework for integrating sustainability assessments of sustainable urban development (SUD) and coastal adaptation to climate change (CACC). Through a systematic literature review, we collected more than 2,700 indicators for SUD and 1,800 indicators for CACC. The indicators occurring most frequently are extracted and structured into frameworks. The study highlights the differences and similarities between the two frameworks. We further identify complementary and conflicting objectives that can advance or inhibit the effective integration of SUD and CACC. CACC tends to focus on assessing specific adaptation measures and their immediate impact on the city’s vulnerability, ignoring wider impacts on socioeconomic systems. SUD considers the city and its functions as a whole but ignores vulnerability assessments across urban subsystems. We develop a combined framework for sustainability assessment that may serve as a basis for both qualitative and quantitative integrated studies under the paradigm of sustainable adaptation.
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spelling doaj.art-81d09e5a6ec441e4a23e8dc7de3c58932023-03-22T04:36:10ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2023-04-01148110078Identifying barriers and potentials of integrated assessments of sustainable urban development and adaptation to rising sea levelsAnna Lea Eggert0Roland Löwe1Karsten Arnbjerg-Nielsen2Corresponding author.; Climate and Monitoring, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljøvej B115, Kgs. Lyngby, 2800, DenmarkClimate and Monitoring, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljøvej B115, Kgs. Lyngby, 2800, DenmarkClimate and Monitoring, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljøvej B115, Kgs. Lyngby, 2800, DenmarkCurrent adaptation responses to sea-level rise tend to focus on protecting existing infrastructure resulting in unsustainable adaptation pathways. At the same time, urban development compromises a city’s adaptive capacity if the climate risk component is ignored. While fighting for the same space, these two domains are currently widely analyzed separately. This paper develops a framework for integrating sustainability assessments of sustainable urban development (SUD) and coastal adaptation to climate change (CACC). Through a systematic literature review, we collected more than 2,700 indicators for SUD and 1,800 indicators for CACC. The indicators occurring most frequently are extracted and structured into frameworks. The study highlights the differences and similarities between the two frameworks. We further identify complementary and conflicting objectives that can advance or inhibit the effective integration of SUD and CACC. CACC tends to focus on assessing specific adaptation measures and their immediate impact on the city’s vulnerability, ignoring wider impacts on socioeconomic systems. SUD considers the city and its functions as a whole but ignores vulnerability assessments across urban subsystems. We develop a combined framework for sustainability assessment that may serve as a basis for both qualitative and quantitative integrated studies under the paradigm of sustainable adaptation.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23002200Sustainable urban developmentCoastal adaptationIndicatorsSustainable adaptationUrban systemsFlood Vulnerability
spellingShingle Anna Lea Eggert
Roland Löwe
Karsten Arnbjerg-Nielsen
Identifying barriers and potentials of integrated assessments of sustainable urban development and adaptation to rising sea levels
Ecological Indicators
Sustainable urban development
Coastal adaptation
Indicators
Sustainable adaptation
Urban systems
Flood Vulnerability
title Identifying barriers and potentials of integrated assessments of sustainable urban development and adaptation to rising sea levels
title_full Identifying barriers and potentials of integrated assessments of sustainable urban development and adaptation to rising sea levels
title_fullStr Identifying barriers and potentials of integrated assessments of sustainable urban development and adaptation to rising sea levels
title_full_unstemmed Identifying barriers and potentials of integrated assessments of sustainable urban development and adaptation to rising sea levels
title_short Identifying barriers and potentials of integrated assessments of sustainable urban development and adaptation to rising sea levels
title_sort identifying barriers and potentials of integrated assessments of sustainable urban development and adaptation to rising sea levels
topic Sustainable urban development
Coastal adaptation
Indicators
Sustainable adaptation
Urban systems
Flood Vulnerability
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23002200
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AT karstenarnbjergnielsen identifyingbarriersandpotentialsofintegratedassessmentsofsustainableurbandevelopmentandadaptationtorisingsealevels