Acknowledging the context for urban resilience plans: place-based compatibility of adaptation measures in the case of Mantua (Italy)

Abstract

The unavoidable present and future impacts of climate change are a crucial challenge in the urban agenda. Local governments play a key role in addressing these impacts through effective adaptation measures. The large number of international best-practises refer to various geographical and climate contexts, providing an extensive but generic database of measures. This research outlines the process, that took place in building an adaptation plan in a mid-size Italian city, of acknowledging the local impacts, context and governance framework in refining an international list of measures in a place-based one. To choose the most feasible, meaningful and locally adapted measure, a compatibility matrix has been used. The results are then applied to 5 neighbourhood wide masterplans, where site-specific vulnerabilities and urban structures are acknowledged in order to show how full implementation of the measures could look like.