%0 Journal Article
%T Assessing Resilience to Climate Change in US Cities
%A Casilda Saavedra
%A William W. Budd
%A Nicholas P. Lovrich
%J Urban Studies Research
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/458172
%X In the face of uncertainties associated with climate change, building adaptive capacity and resilience at the community level emerges as an essential and timely element of local planning. However, key social factors that facilitate the effective building and maintenance of urban resilience are poorly understood. Two groups of US cities differing markedly in their commitment to climate change are contrasted with respect to their planning approaches and actions related to mitigation and adaptation strategies, and also in relation to social features that are believed to enhance adaptive capacity and resilience to climate change. The first group manifests a strong commitment to climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the second group has demonstrated little or no such commitment. These cities are compared with respect to several noteworthy social features, including level of social capital, degree of unconventional thought, and level of cultural diversity. These characteristics are postulated to contribute to the adaptive capacity of communities for dealing with the impacts of climate change. The aim is to determine to what extent there is a relationship between social/cultural structures and urban commitment and planning for climate change that could discriminate between climate change resilient and nonresilient urban areas. 1. Introduction In their efforts to promote sustainability local governments around the world are confronting the challenge of mitigation and adaptation to climate change because climate change-related disturbances can transform the face of communities in profound ways. It is clear that no thorough plan promoting sustainability should ignore the potential impacts of climate change. Sustainability is closely related to the capacity of systems to persist and transform themselves in the presence of significant perturbations and still provide the ecosystem services that sustain life. Holling [1] has defined sustainability as ˇ°the capacity to create, test, and maintain adaptive capacityˇ± while Lebel et al. [2] argue that in order to attain sustainable development, societies need to enhance their capacity to manage resilience. To deal successfully with climate change, decision makers in urban areas have to apply adaptive management, develop the ability to live with uncertainty, and foster transformations without losing opportunities for achieving a sustainable future. Climate change is one of the main sources of uncertainty facing all levels of government today. According to Wilson [3], ˇ°building climate change considerations into
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/usr/2012/458172/