Institutionalisation of urban climate adaptation: three municipal experiences in Spain

Specific adaptation process tools to profile and diagnose exposure, vulnerability and risks and to evaluate climate change impacts and adaptation options

Training, research, development and awareness campaigns to produce and share information about risks, vulnerability or adaptation capacities

Process of visioning, including events and partnerships that bring together different stakeholders with different stakes to produce a city vision that matches their expectations and is aligned with the need of the city to adapt

Participatory tools to discuss adaptation alternatives and decisions within a planning process

Main urban planning tools to organise urban land uses and (un)permitted activities such as master plans and local planning regulations

Tools such as an strategic environmental assessment, health impact assessment or sustainability assessment provide a means to assess the impact of specific policies and programmes on the adaptive capacity of infrastructures, human population and communities, ecosystems or institutions

The above are naturally embedded in upper-level planning instruments at the regional or national level that should seed and demonstrate the local commitment to adaptation

Local plans, programmes, policies and laws where there is a recognition of the need to adapt through the establishment of adaptation-related objectives in the short, medium or long terms and establishing the minimum political, institutional and social conditions in which adaptation to climate change is possible

Practices such as codes, labelling, management standards or audits on a voluntary basis can provide incentives for adaptation

Taxes or subsidies that can be used to promote adaptive activities

Systems to take measurements at regular intervals to specify progress against the objectives and revise the planning process

Systems to guarantee the adequacy of the chosen adaptation options to the level of risk known and to provide means of learning based on a continuous knowledge generation around the impacts, risks and adaptation options consequences

Benchmarking tools for comparison and adaptation surveillance in search of the best available adaptation

Soft and hard infrastructure construction and management services and operations

Protocols to guarantee compliance with laws, codes, regulations, or upper-level plans and policies

Processes to guarantee the consideration of equity, environmental and social vulnerabilities in participatory, policy, planning and implementation processes

Events and activities to transfer knowledge, facilitate training and harvest municipal leadership

Upgrading protocols to escalate the best-performing options from experiment to transformative interventions

City-to-city learning and international networking and commitments

Visioning:

• Contracting a celebrated international architect to develop the urban development design

• Creation of an innovative sustainable low-carbon district in Zorrotzaurre

• Creation of a scientific and technological hub in Zorrotzaurre with the participation of companies, universities and research centres to enable innovation and sustainability

Management through a public–private partnership (PPP): the Commission for the Urban Development of Zorrotzaurre (also named the Management Commission of Zorrotzaurre) was founded in 2001, including public and private institutions at various levels (local and regional)

Baseline studies on cost–benefits and flooding, such as economic impact analysis of the opening-up of the Deusto Canal (Osés et al. 2012), and the flood assessments developed by the regional public water agency (Uraren Euskal Agentzia—URA, the Basque Water Agency) (as part of the Basque flooding planning process; see below)

Participatory processes with residents (the social movement Foro para un Zorrotzaurre Sostenible)

Basque Flooding Risk Prevention Plan 2015–22 (developed by the regional public water agency, URA)

Estrategia de Desarrollo Urbano Sostenible e Integrado (EDUSI), the Sustainable Urban Development Strategy of Bilbao with a focus on Zorrotzaurre (2015)

Special Urban Plan for Zorrotzaurre (2015)

Modification of the General Plan for Urban Planning in Bilbao in Zorrotzaurre (2008)

Declaration of the existing neighbourhood as a Protected Rehabilitation Area in 2008

Public consultation periods are required by law

Evaluation of the environmental implications of the projects through (strategic) environmental impact assessments

Financing: European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funds that have supported the development of the project

European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program funds to invest in urban low carbon technologies (Decarb City Pipes 2050, Atelier H2020 project) and brownfield decontamination (POSIDON and BRODISE H2020 projects)

The Basque government, Bilbao City Council (through Surbisa, the public company for building rehabilitation) and the Management Commission of Zorrotzaurre funded a programme to regenerate the existing neighbourhoods in the area

Regulations: compliance with the urbanisation limits established by the regional public water agency (URA) that has defined the limits for the canal according to flooding parameters

Management Commission of Zorrotzaurre stands as the body dealing with managing this project across its life and after use

Contracting construction works (including the decontamination of polluted soils and execution of urbanisation) and services related to the design, environmental control and health coordination

The city of Bilbao is a signatory of the Covenant of Mayors and Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy 2010

Visioning: creating a programme outside the formalities of planning processes to enable a long-term commitment beyond planning and electoral cycles

Information: 2016 public presentation and workshop with stakeholders from administration, academy and the private sector

Internal and external communication: programme being disseminated internally (workshops, meetings and presentations) and externally (public fora, national and international meetings)

Baseline studies on urban climate, vulnerability and nature-based solutions such as the Urban Climate Study of the City of Madrid (2017), Climate Vulnerability Study of the Metropolitan Area of Madrid (2015), and Green Roofs and Green Façades Inventory (2017) made accessible through Google Maps

Madrid + Natural programme proposal made public in 2016

Strategic Plan of urban regeneration of the city of Madrid (Madrid Recupera, also called PlanMadre—Mother Plan) (2017), which helps to integrate nature-based projects depicted in Madrid + Natural for urban regeneration purposes

Energy and climate change strategy for the city of Madrid (Plan A) (2017), which is the umbrella for both Madrid + Natural and PlanMadre

Madrid + Natural dossier of nature-based solutions (2019)

Financing: projects mainly funded with the municipal budget (regular, participatory or extraordinary financially sustainable investment—IFS). Other projects have support from European programmes such as: Horizon 2020 (H2020), LIFE Programme, Development Education and Awareness Raising (DEAR) programme and European Institute of Innovation and Technology Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (EIT Climate-KIC)

Some initiatives are starting to establish public–private partnerships (PPPs)

Decentralisation of competencies from the city council to the municipal boards regarding the management of degraded areas to boost the activities of regeneration and greening and facilitate social ownership and bottom-up action

Budgeting: the programme has no budget associated. Projects that are included are funded by each municipal service that develops them

Self-learning (no protocol) process around governance, financing, co-benefits, communication and engagement. These are used as they emerge to reorient critical priorities of the programme

The city of Madrid is a signatory of the Covenant of Mayors and Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy 2008, Mayors Adapt 2014 and Compact of Mayors (C40) 2015

Visioning: creating a transversal municipal department as a driving core for climate change resilience policy and planning. This municipal department includes the urban ecology commissioner, sustainability culture and strategy office, the Energy Agency of Barcelona, and the Social Rights and Resilience Department. These form the Climate Office (resilience, energy and sustainability)

Strong process of knowledge co-production from screening and planning to implementation: social demand to develop an Adaptation Plan for Barcelona (Compromiso de Barcelona por el clima), participatory processes for plan creation and execution (nine projects 2015–17 and 11 projects 2018–22)

Baseline studies: climate projections and vulnerability assessments developed with the Barcelona Regional (BR) public entity using data from the Regional Meteorological Service of Catalunya and previous studies by the Barcelona Metropolitan Area

Awareness and information campaigns along the process of plan creation and implementation: Creation of Web Clima (http://lameva.barcelona.cat/barcelona-pel-clima/) where all supporting data for the plan and specific outputs of execution and implementation can be found. Information campaigns with visual resources in social networks (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube). Over 30 annual contributions to public events

Benchmarking of adaptation plans analysing over 30 municipal plans worldwide (2014)

Development and implementation of Plan Clima (2018) in Barcelona

Creation of the Climate Emergency Plan for Barcelona (2020), with more than 100 actions affecting private and public multilevel actors

Financing: using municipal budget lines and also strong/intensive participation in European-funded international projects, e.g. the H2020 project RESCCUE. Also, European-funded Urban Innovative Action (UIA) to convert 11 schools into climate havens

Municipal government regulations include the programme to boost renewables, the green infrastructure programme and the energy transition programme

Reporting: Barcelona reports mitigation and adaptation progress to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), and C40 provides feedback

Monitoring: Plan Clima and the Climate Emergency Declaration include over 100 indicators that should be monitored annually

First Climate Change Monitoring report (2018)

Special Climate-Emergency Monitoring report (2020)

Development of the Action Plan through participatory processes (each five to six years)

Pilot follow-up programme (called Project Monitor): if the experiment works, it will be applied to all municipal cross-cutting projects

Climate Emergency Commission and Action Plan 2020–25

The city of Barcelona is a signatory of the Covenant of Mayors and Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy 2008, Mayors Adapt 2014, Compact of Mayors (C40) 2015 and Pact Mayors Climate and Energy 2017