Local Climate Response

The course discusses how local authorities can adapt to climate change and increase their climate resilience. We start with discussing climate change projections and scenarios, and further explore policy implications of climate change projections in a case study. We will identify tools to measure climate change vulnerabilities and practice with assessing their own local context.

After that, we zoom in on the design and planning of sustainable development policies. Attention is paid to the integration of smart solutions for food, water, energy and transport as well as to city-region relations. In a special module, we explore instruments for financing climate adaptation. Further, we will address change management and how to deal with obstacles during the implementation of climate policies.

In interactive sessions, best practices from different parts of the world are discussed and linked to the context of the participants. In addition, we visit inspiring examples from the Netherlands, such as a climate proof neighbourhood of Culemborg, combining green buildings with smart energy and waste management, urban farming in Rotterdam, and projects to adapt to floods and rising sea levels.