Wondering how to evaluate justice in climate adaptation projects at the city level?

Maria has led various pieces of work, among these, a systematic review of the scientific literature to see what the scholarly community recommends regarding evaluation frameworks, dimensions and indicators that can be used to evaluate justice implications of climate change adaptation interventions in the urban public areas. The study led by Maria in collaboration with Marta Olazabal from the IMAGINE Adaptation team and Vanesa Casán-Broto from the University of Sheffield can be accessed HERE. The article has been published open access in the Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy, a new journal by University of Toronto Press that is supported by C40 Cities and the C40 Center for City Climate Policy and Economy.

Summary: Evaluating processes and outcomes of climate change adaptation enables learning to facilitate climate-resilient pathways and prevent potentially unjust outcomes. This study focuses on adaptation interventions in the public space whose design and management have implications for environmental, social, cultural, and climate justice. There is a mismatch between the language and scale of scientific research and the site-level operational character of these interventions. This makes it difficult to bridge theory and practice and assess climate justice in public space adaptation interventions.

To bridge this gap, we develop a qualitative systematic review and analysis of current scientific literature proposing climate justice evaluation parameters applicable to public space adaptation interventions and explore possible avenues for developing more effective assessment frameworks. Results show five key themes critical to assessing climate justice in adaptation interventions in public space: project impact distribution, project governance and knowledge inclusion, project communication and transparency, space perception and use, and recognition and repair of structural drivers of vulnerability. Each theme raises challenges, opportunities, and potential avenues to address the assessment of public space design in terms of climate justice.

Our results are key for scientists, urban practitioners, and policymakers interested in understanding how evaluating climate justice in public space adaptation interventions can help identify potential failures, provide ways to learn from experience and facilitate urban climate-resilient pathways.