Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-6 (section)

=== FAQ 6.3 | What adaptation actions in human settlements can contribute to reducing climate risks and building resilience across building, neighbourhood, city and global scales? ===

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''Settlements bring together many activities, so climate action will be most effective if it is integrated and collaborative. This requires (i) embedding information on climate change risks into decisions; (ii) building capacity of communities and institutions; (iii) using both nature-based and traditional engineering approaches; (iv) working in partnership with diverse local planning and community organisations; and (v) sharing best practice with other settlements.''

Settlements bring together people, buildings, economic activities and infrastructure services, and thus integrated, cross-sector, adaptation actions offer the best way to build resilience to climate change impacts. For example, actions to manage flood risk include installing flood proofing measures within and outside properties, improving capacity of urban drainage along roads, incorporating nature-based solutions (NbS) within the urban areas, constructing flood defences and managing land upstream of settlements to reduce runoff.

Adaptation actions will be more effective if they are implemented in partnership with local communities, national governments, research institutions, and the private and third sector. Climate action should not be considered as an additional or side action to other activities. Rather, climate action should be mainstreamed into existing processes, including those that contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (2015) and New Urban Agenda adopted at the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in 2016. Cities are already coming together through international networks to share good practice about adaptation actions, speeding up the dissemination of knowledge.

This integrated approach to adaptation in human settlements needs to be supported by various other actions, including potential co-benefits with carbon emissions reductions, public health and ecosystem conservation goals. First, information on climate risks needs to be embedded into the architectural design, delivery and retrofitting of housing, transportation, spatial planning and infrastructure across neighbourhood and city scales. This includes making information on climate impacts widely available, updating design standards and strengthening regulation to avoid development in high-risk locations. Second, the capacity of communities needs to be strengthened, especially among those in informal settlements, the poorest and other vulnerable groups including minorities, migrants, women, children, elderly, disabled and people with serious health conditions such as obesity. This involves raising awareness, incorporating communities into adaptation processes, and strengthening regulation, policies and provision of infrastructure services. Third, nature-based solutions should be integrated to work alongside traditional ‘grey’ or engineered infrastructure. Vegetation corridors, greenspace, wetlands and other green infrastructure can be woven into the built environment to reduce heat and flood risks, whilst providing other benefits such as health and biodiversity.

Although even the largest city covers only a small area of the planet, all settlements are part of larger catchments from which people, water, food, energy, materials and other resources support them. Actions within cities should be mindful of wider impacts and avoid displacing issues elsewhere.

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