BIM for Landscape Design Improving Climate Adaptation Planning: The Evaluation of Software Tools Based on the ISO 25010 Standard

This paper investigates the capabilities and limitations of different software tools simulating landscape design adaptability. The evaluation of tools is based on the ISO 25010 framework, which investigates software functionality, reliability, performance efficiency, usability, compatibility, and information quality. These quality characteristics of software are analysed during objective experiments where five software tools are used for a case study project at the conceptual design phase. These experiments reveal that the existing software tools for climate adaptation planning are focused on different aspects of climate adaptability, generating different types of information. Moreover, all tools deal with some limitations in terms of compatibility, performance efficiency, and functional operations. The ISO 25010 quality model provides a comprehensive framework to compare the capabilities of different software tools for climate adaptation planning. This paper is part of a wider study including an analysis of the needs of project stakeholders regarding climate adaptation software tools. However, this article focuses on technical capabilities of current climate adaptation software tools.

Bridging Gaps: Connecting Climate Change Risk Assessments with Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Agendas

Changing climates and increasing variability, in combination with maladaptive societal responses, present many threats and risks to both social and biophysical systems. The outcomes of such changes will progressively affect all aspects of ecosystem functioning including social, political, and economic landscapes. Coordination between the three frameworks that govern risk at national and subnational scales, climate change risk assessments, climate adaptation planning and disaster risk reduction (DRR), is often lacking or limited. This has resulted in a siloed and fragmented approach to climate action. By examining risk as a dynamic social construction that is reimagined and reinvented by society over time, this chapter explores how a greater degree of cohesion between these three frameworks might be achieved.

Monsoonal rainfall characteristics in the context of climate adaptation planning for rain-fed agriculture in the Sudano-Sahelian area of Northwestern Nigeria

This study was aimed at assessing monsoonal rainfall real onset dates (RODs), real cessation dates (RCDs) and extent of association between cumulative rainfall (CR) and length of growing season (LGS) in the context of climate adaptation planning for sustainable rain-fed agriculture in the Sudano-Sahelian area of Northwestern Nigeria. Daily rainfall data of four stations purposively selected namely: Gusau, Kano, Katsina and Sokoto for the period 1981–2018 were collected from Nigerian Meteorological Agency. The data were analyzed and the Intra-seasonal Rainfall Monitoring Index (IRMI) was generated. IRMI was used in determining the RODs and RCDs of rainfall and LGS and CR. The Mann–Kendall test was used to detect trends in rainfall characteristics. Findings revealed that RODs, unlike RCDs of rainfall in the study area, show extensive variations from one station to another. There is a very low correlation (0.07 coefficient) between latitudes and early onsets (EOs). There is however a strong positive correlation (0.8 coefficient) between meridians and EOs of rains. Late onsets (LOs) recognize latitudinal differences to the extent that there is strong positive correlation (0.7 coefficient) between lines of parallels and LOs of rains. The three types of onsets interchanged with one another annually without a clear trend in the RODs and RCDs phases. We conclude that non-definite trends in RODs and RCDs pose a strong challenge to long term adaptation planning. The recommendations of the study are geared towards enhancing climate change adaptation in the context of complicated rainfall characteristics of the study area.

Multi-Risk Climate Mapping for the Adaptation of the Venice Metropolitan Area

Climate change risk reduction requires cities to undertake urgent decisions. One of the principal obstacles that hinders effective decision making is insufficient spatial knowledge frameworks. Cities climate adaptation planning must become strategic to rethink and transform urban fabrics holistically. Contemporary urban planning should merge future threats with older and unsolved criticalities, like social inequities, urban conflicts and “drosscapes”. Retrofitting planning processes and redefining urban objectives requires the development of innovative spatial information frameworks. This paper proposes a combination of approaches to overcome knowledge production limits and to support climate adaptation planning. The research was undertaken in collaboration with the Metropolitan City of Venice and the Municipality of Venice, and required the production of a multi-risk climate atlas to support their future spatial planning efforts. The developed tool is a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS), which aids adaptation actions and the coordination of strategies. The model recognises and assesses two climate impacts: Urban Heat Island and Flooding, representing the Metropolitan City of Venice (CMVE) as a case study in complexity. The model is composed from multiple assessment methodologies and maps both vulnerability and risk. The atlas links the morphological and functional conditions of urban fabrics and land use that triggers climate impacts. The atlas takes the exposure assessment of urban assets into account, using this parameter to describe local economies and social services, and map the uneven distribution of impacts. The resulting tool is therefore a replicable and scalable mapping assessment able to mediate between metropolitan and local level planning systems.