Journal Article

Mainstreaming climate adaptation in urban planning: a case study

Moro, A, Bazzan, E

2025

Overview

Municipalities face an increasing need to understand, mitigate, and manage climate risks in urban environments. This presentation explores how the Resilient Built Environment Method (RBE Method), together with the Resilient Neighbourhoods Tool (RNTool) that implements it, supports the integration of climate adaptation strategies into urban spatial planning through multiscale risk mapping and assessment, ranging from citywide to small urban scale level. The RBE Method is an adaptation of iiSBE’s Sustainable Built Environment Method (SBE Method), designed to align with the IPCC’s climate risk assessment framework. It helps cities implement strategic adaptation measures from Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs) within urban plans, bridging strategic city planning with tactical neighbourhood and small-scale interventions. The case study of the City of Chivasso (Italy) demonstrates the RBE Method’s application, specifically in mapping extreme heat hazards at the city level and employing a multi-criteria approach to identify adaptation measures for the Municipal General Urban Plan update. The paper will also address how the RBE Method supports preparing Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) of urban plans, including assessing current adaptation levels, justifying planning choices, monitoring measure implementation, and evaluating their impacts over time.

• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Subject: Adaptation / Built environment / Case studies / Cities / Climate action / Climate adaptation / Climate change / Environmental assessment / Environmental risk / Extreme heat / Hazard identification / Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change / Mapping / Multiple criterion / Planning / Risk assessment / Sustainable energy / Urban areas / Urban environments / Urban planning