Institutional challenges to climate risk management in cities

Cities in many countries have begun taking on responsibility for identifying, analyzing and evaluating local risks resulting from climate change. The complexity of the task at hand provides a number of institutional challenges to city governments, civil society, and private businesses. Four key barriers to effective adaptation can be identified: understanding emerging scientific information about climate change hazards and their impact on cities; understanding how broader socio-economic processes influence urban vulnerabilities; integrating information about climate risk and vulnerability into local planning processes and development agendas; and the lack of suitable governance frameworks for climate risk management in cities. This review provides an overview of recent research that analyses these four areas of institutional constraint.