Action 6: Increasing the resilience of cities and regions

Where do we stand?

Torrential rains, floods, but also heat and drought – the effects of climate change are also felt in German cities. In Germany, many cities and communities are not sufficiently prepared for weather extremes and creeping climate changes. It is therefore important to make cities and regions adaptable to the consequences of climate change and to improve their risk provisioning. This is not only sustainable, but also cheaper in the long term. Our funding has already made a major contribution to laying the foundations for German adaptation policy and for the implementation of adaptation measures on the ground.

What are the research needs?

Together with actors at the local and regional level, we want to develop tools and options for action that will enable them to plan effective and efficient strategies for dealing with the risks of climate change themselves. This requires the development of appropriate digital methods and digital information and assessment tools that bring together data on climate impacts, adaptation capacity, and the costs and benefits of adaptation measures. Data, tools and solutions must also be geared to the needs of local actors in order to make real progress in adapting to climate change and dealing with environmental problems. Therefore, transdisciplinary, demand-driven research is in the foreground here. In the international context, it is cities and conurbations where the greatest leverage can be achieved through adaptation measures in terms of preventing damage or minimising risk. That is why we also want to develop and test solutions for rapidly growing cities in developing and emerging countries.

Implementation steps and milestones

• We want to develop and test particularly innovative measures for adapting to climate change, as well as options for action in order to be able to meet regionally specific climate change challenges.
• Projects developed under the initiative for ‘Climate resilience through action in cities and regions’ aim to specifically increase the ability and the capacity for adaptation of cities and municipalities in Germany. This is our contribution to the Federal Government’s progress report on the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change (DAS) in 2020.
• We are funding the development of adapted solution strategies for the resilient development of fast-growing cities in developing and emerging countries. In addition to projects in Africa and Asia, from 2022 onwards we will also support projects focusing on climate adaptation and urban resilience strategies in Latin America which develop particularly promising models for perpetuation and implementation.
• With the initiative ‘Local Climate and Environmental Models for Future Cities and Regions’, which is anchored in our Digital Strategy, we are committed to improving risk provisioning in cities and regions through the use of digital tools from 2020.
• In 2021, we will use the BMBF’s research results to contribute to the Federal Government’s climate impact and vulnerability assessment.
• Our funding will provide newly developed digital tools for urban planning adapted to climate change. In 2022 we will publish the new urban climate model.
• In 2023, we will present the first version of our new climate information services, which will provide actors at regional and municipal level with tools for the integrated assessment of climate risks and for the impact analysis of mitigation measures.