Challenges of adapting to the consequences of climate change – an urban-local perspective from four Croatian cities

Abstract

Due to its characteristics, climate change represents a complex problem for humanity and an unprecedented environmental issue. It is estimated that cities are responsible for 70% of global CO2 emissions related to energy production and around 65% of total energy demand. For this very reason, cities as well as regional and local communities have a special role to play in adapting to climate change. The concept of adaptation to climate change implies a change in behavior, actions and decision-making in a way that helps them better adapt their biological, social and infrastructural responses to climate change. At the same time, adaptation depends on the events that have already occurred or will occur. Understanding the current applications of adaptation solutions depends on the multiple interrelated ways in which people experience, deal with or have certain knowledge and/or beliefs about climate change. The aim of this paper is to investigate how adaptation challenges and potentials in the fight against climate change are recognized and evaluated from the perspective of cities and regional administrations. For this purpose, a qualitative research was conducted with experts on the fight against climate change in four Croatian cities: Pula, Slavonski Brod, Zadar and Zagreb (N=45). Multilevel open coding was used in the analysis, which enabled the inductive conceptualization of basic categories, on the basis of which a thematic analysis was conducted, which made it possible to structure the obtained results into a complete narrative about the adaptation of local communities to climate change.