Cities are spaces of struggle and contestation. Growing concerns over the climate crisis coupled with growing city populations have risen the urgency for public policies that prioritise climate risk management, adaptation, and mitigation efforts in cities. In this article, we will reflect on an experimental exercise on collective self-inquiry in discussions on climate gentrification, which we organised for the LDE-GMD Centre’s ”Rethinking urban governance for the future of diverse and mobile cities’’ conference held on 5 April 2023. Our experience suggests that exercises that evoke collective reflection can help connect often abstract discussions on climate gentrification with people’s everyday experiences in their neighbourhoods.@en

Policy-making bodies such as the UNISDR have frequently emphasized the role of community resilience in disaster risk management. However, this community-centered approach to enhancing a city's resilience may overlook other critical variables. Few studies have been conducted on the city's process of building urban resilience, as well as the factors that impede or accelerate the resilience process. This article aims to add to the body of literature on urban resilience processes by analyzing the disaster experience and urban resilience of Malabon City, a flood-prone city in Metro Manila's northwestern region. The purpose of this article is to answer the questions, “How does the process of urban resilience occur?”, “What factors impede or accelerate the process of urban resilience?” and “Why such factors impede or accelerate the process of urban resilience?” Furthermore, the article adds to the debate about how shifting the responsibility for resilience building to society and the community reduces government and political accountability to the people it is supposed to serve. The article will critically assess the policy environment surrounding the flood infrastructure development in Metro Manila and how it gravely affected Malabon City. The case analysis demonstrates that urban resilience does not follow a linear pattern or a single equilibrium, but rather multiple equilibria of resilience building. It highlights that urban resilience is complex and considers the connections between and among sectors and dimensions within the city. The article indicates resilience as a value-laden and politically charged concept.

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Homes and communities are becoming more vulnerable to climate change. Particularly now, when the pace of climatic change is increasing, safety and liveability concerns are of the utmost importance. The two coastal delta cities of Rotterdam and Dordrecht make up the Greater Rotterdam Living Lab (GRLL) for the RED&BLUE research project. Both cities have identified urban use cases based on their present priorities for various climate issues. These urban cases are dealing with combined effects of climate change, including extreme rainfall, flooding, changes in groundwater levels, subsidence, heat, and drought, in various stages of development. In some cases, existing housing areas are to be retrofitted for climate-proofing, while others are to be designed as new (additional) housing stock, low density uses developments and future evacuation areas. Different stakeholders are involved in the process of creating and planning these integrated strategies as well as their actual implementation. It is challenging to identify all stakeholders; however, to have real integrated strategies, the less visible stakeholders, including those who will be most affected, need to be acknowledged, identified, and involved in creating solutions. The current study presents an approach for integrated stakeholder mapping. Through interviewing stakeholders currently involved in the urban use cases of the GRLL we (a) identified and categorized relevant stakeholders, (b) map their interests and resources, and (c) identified thematic areas of interests where the stakeholders are involved. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate that there are more stakeholders to be considered and to visualize how different interests are aligned. This in contrast to specifying who the important stakeholders are and how much power they have. By identifying the stakeholders presently involved and in which areas, we would like to contribute to enhancing the co-creation process for climate adaptive strategies that is inherent in a living laboratory.@en

Risk perception research has been used in flood risk management, environmental policies and programs, and the assessment of environmental attitudes and biases. Survey methods are frequently used in risk perception studies to assess a large population's perception of specific risks such as natural hazards. Others prefer focus group discussions and key informant interviews to target the study's specific risks. While these methods have yielded significant results in understanding a population's perception of the existence or non-existence of risks, as well as the personal effect or lack thereof on the target participants, these targeted risk perception studies have pre-determined risks outlined at their disposal that may condition the participants' thinking. In the City of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, six climate-related threats have been identified by the city that affects the current and future infrastructure and housing development in the city. This include extreme rainfall, flooding, soil subsidence, groundwater level decrease/increase, heat and drought, which affect many of the old houses built on poles because any drop in groundwater and increase in heat and drought weaken these wooden poles. In addition to these threats, the national government is under pressure to build at least 850,000 housing units by 2030 in order to meet current housing demand. Using a speculative design method that allows community participants to think of their own situations the study will explore what for them are existing and future risks, how they cope, and what they aspire to address the perceived existing and future risks. In this way, we will be able to identify interconnections or gaps in a community's risk perception in relation to government policy documents that have identified risks in the communities where participants live. In this study, I hope to find answers to the following questions: What are the current and perceived risks in communities both outside and inside the dike? What environmental and infrastructure changes are taking place in their communities? What effects do these changes have on the participants? And how do they intend to address perceived current and future risks?@en