Climate Smart Risk Reduction in Urban Areas: A Review of factors for integrating Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation within the context of urban Resilience

In recent years, the drawbacks of parallel systems in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) have been acknowledged in professional and academic communities, where the need for integration of the two fields in connection to development has been stressed. In this regard, the concept of resilience as an antithesis of risks has also been considered. In this study, a scoping study identified and summarized the challenges and facilitating measures for improving the integration of DRR and CCA in support of urban resilience. As the main measures facilitating the integration of DRR and CCA, the results indicated different aspects, including developing a shared policy vision, developing multi-level, cross-sectoral collaboration, as well as developing communication channels and flexible funding mechanisms and legislation. The results also revealed the lack of a coherent perspective and definition on the integration of DRR and CCA. Further, the findings of the scoping study were used as an analytical lens and basis for a content analysis of a guiding document and six city resilience strategies developed in the 100 Resilient Cities movement. The content analysis found that many of the measures for integration were considered in the cities’ resilience strategies. However, there is a need to put more focus on the legislation and funding mechanisms in strategies. Moreover, the generic property of the measures makes them relevant for the integration of various fields and could not be considered as specific to DRR and CCA integration. The study highlighted the need to develop a nexus of relevant fields where urban planning could be a core and catalyst for the integration of DRR and CCA in support of urban resilience.