Effects of climate change in cities are evident and are expected to increase in the future, demanding adaptation. In order to share knowledge, raise awareness, and build capacity on climate adaptation, the first concept of a “ClimateCafé” has been utilized since 2012 in 25 events all over the world. In 8 years ClimateCafé grew into a field education concept involving different fields of science and practice for capacity building in climate change adaptation. This chapter describes the need, method, and results of ClimateCafés and provides tools for organizing a ClimateCafé in a context-specific case. Early ClimateCafés in the Philippines are compared with the ClimateCafé in Peru to elucidate the development of this movement, in which one of the participants of ClimateCafé Philippines 2016 became the co-organizer of ClimateCafé Peru in 2019. The described progress of ClimateCafés provides detailed information on the dynamic methodological aspects, holding different workshops. The workshops aim at generating context-specific data on climate adaptation by using tools and innovative data collection techniques addressing deep uncertainties that come with climate change adaptation. Results of the workshops show that context-specific, relevant, multidisciplinary data can be gathered in a short period of time with limited resources, which promotes the generation of ideas that can be used by local stakeholders in their local context. A ClimateCafé therefore stimulates accelerated climate action and support for adaptation solutions, from the international and the local, from the public and private sector, to ensure we learn from each other and work together for a climate resilient future. The methodology of ClimateCafé is still maturing and the evaluation of the ClimateCafés over time leads to improvements which are applied during upcoming ClimateCafés, giving a clear direction for further development of this methodology for knowledge exchange, capacity building, and bridging the gap between disciplines within climate adaptation.
main spatial policy approaches to securing DHC through new developments in Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom
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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the insights gained by testing in a design studio a particular research-by-design strategy, focusing on the generation of innovative solutions for climate change adaptation. The strategy is based on the Design Thinking Process and has been applied in the climate adaptation design studio, which took place in 2022 at a Master of Architecture degree program in the Netherlands. The case study area was the Zernike university campus in Groningen, the Netherlands, which is situated in the verge between the city and the surrounding rural landscape, facing the urgent climate change challenges of the wider region, mainly floodings due to increased frequency of rainfalls and sea level rise. Furthermore, the area faces particular challenges, such as the increasing demand for serving additional needs, beyond the current educational and business related functions, such as (student) housing. Three indicative design research projects were selected to illustrate the tested research-by-design strategy, while systematic input has been collected from the participating students regarding the impact of this strategy on their design process. The results reveal that this strategy facilitates the iterative research-by-design process and hence offers a systematic approach to convert the threats of climate change into opportunities by unravelling the potentials of the study area, resulting in place-based, innovative and adaptive solutions.
