Legal Aspects of Urban Climate Change Adaptation

Much of the climate discourse of today is held the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and reducing humanity’s ecological footprint on Earth. However, as climate change is already impacting our planet, adaptation measures to climate change are also required. Rising temperatures, the multiplication of intense precipitation events and related pluvial and river floods, drought events and water scarcity, the increase of frequency of wildfires represent a few of the multiple climate change impacts that governments and citizens have to deal with. For ecological reasons, climate change affects areas very differently based on geographic location and urban centers represent climate ‘hotspots’ as areas with high vulnerability. As a consequence of this, cities and towns play a crucial role in tackling climate change effects. The aim of this essay is to analyze the legal aspects of climate change adaptation set by local governments to prevent and manage damages related to climate-related risks. More in detail, after determining the international, European and national legal framework on adaptation, the purpose of the article is to identify the legal instruments used by local administrations to develop adaptation measures. In particular, the analysis focuses on the legal aspects related to three dimensions of local adaptation: urban greening as a nature-based solution for heat waves risks; the management of water-related risks; the civil protection planning function of municipalities. Considering the impacts of the mainstreaming process on planning tools, special attention is directed towards the integration and coordination issue between the different urban and sectoral planning instruments required by the Italian multi-level governance legal system.