Call for abstracts in EGU session: Future climate risk and adaptation in coastal cities

[Emlyn Yang]

Dear all,

Together with four colleauges in Germany, I am organizing a session at the EGU General Assembly 2023 on the topic of "Future climate risk and adaptation in coastal cities". Detailed information can be found below and via this link: https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU23/session/46129

We welcome abstracts in a broad sense of the topic. The Call for Abstracts is open until Tuesday, 10 January 2023, 13:00 CET. In case any questions arise, please do not hesitate to contact me.

With best wishes,
Emlyn


NH9.11
NH9 EDI
Future climate risk and adaptation in coastal cities
Co-organized by CL3.2
Convener: Liang Emlyn YangECS | Co-conveners: Nivedita SairamECS, Matthias Garschagen, Volker Hochschild, Javier Revilla Diez

Already today, many coastal cities face high economic and non-economic losses from disasters and creeping environmental changes. However, risks in coastal cities are expected to rise even further, fuelled by the interplay of climate change and continued coastal urbanization. The question of how to adapt cities to the hazards of the future is therefore of great concern – not only for scientists, but also for policy makers and risk practitioners. The relevance of this question even increases when considering the central role of coastal cities in economies and societies at the global scale, for instance, in terms of trade, transport, and culture.

A number of important scientific knowledge gaps persist with regards to risk assessment and adaptation analysis in coastal cities. While the assessment of future risk trends in these cities is predominantly focused on scenarios of future hazards (sea level rise, floods, typhoons, etc.), scenarios of socio-economic changes and hence future trends in exposure and vulnerability are typically not part of the picture. This lack is significant and leads to potentially flawed and imprecise assessments of future risk trends and eventually adaptation needs. Secondly, knowledge on the feasibility of different – often competing – adaptation options remains thin. It is too often based on a reductionist set of evaluation criteria, e.g. economic costs and benefits, and a view towards singular adaptation measures. Integrative and comparative assessments that evaluate different adaptation options (e.g. retreat vs. flood accommodation) against a wider set of criteria such as social acceptance or political feasibility are still poorly developed. Thirdly, scientific engagement with coastal urban risk too often remains within siloes of different disciplines. This hampers interdisciplinary assessments and leads to significant blind spots, e.g. with respect to private sector adaptation or collective action for adaptation across different groups of actors.

We particularly invite theoretical, methodological, and empirical studies to better understand future risk in coastal cities and potential adaptation strategies. Both local case studies, regional- and global-level perspectives from multi- and trans-disciplinary studies are welcome. A particular focus will be on coastal cities with high growth dynamics and adaptation pressure, as can be observed in many transition economies of Asia and Africa.