Glossary

Adaptive capacity refers to the ‘potential or ability of a system, region, or community to adapt to the effects or impacts of climate change. Enhancement of adaptive capacity represents a practical means of coping with changes and uncertainties in climate, including variability and extremes’ (IPCC 2007).

Cascading effects in this context can be defined as a sequence of events in which one event produces the circumstances necessary for the initiation of the next event.

Co-creation is the process of engagement of actors throughout the planning cycle in co-assessment, co-design, co-implementation, co-monitoring and reassessment.

Exposure is ‘the nature and degree to which a system is exposed to significant climate variations [IPCC 2007].

Gentrification Gentrification is a process of economic change in a neighbourhood through hikes in land and house prices.

Green infrastructure is a strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas with other environmental features designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services such as water purification, enhanced air quality, recreation space, and climate mitigation and adaptation [European Commission 2013].

Legitimacy refers to how fair an information producing process is and whether it considers the values, concerns and perspectives of different actors. It is often considered part of the process of co-production but is included in Inputs because its precursors—trust and relationship-building—often need greater attention at the start of a project.

Nature-based Solutions are ‘solutions that are inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, and simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience. Such solutions bring more, and more diverse, nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes and seascapes, through locally adapted, resource-efficient and systemic interventions’ (European Commission).

Participatory planning refers to engagement with actors in one or more phases of the planning cycle.

Project lifecycle refers the process of planning, design, implementation, maintenance, monitoring and evaluation

Resilience is ‘the ability of individuals, communities and states and their institutions to absorb and recover from shocks, while positively adapting and transforming their structures and means for living in the face of long-term changes and uncertainty’ (OECD 2013).

Social innovation refers to the ‘design and implementation of new solutions that imply conceptual, process, product, or organisational change, which ultimately aim to improve the welfare and wellbeing of individuals and communities’. Implementing socially innovative solutions thereby helps to address socio-economic issues, build stronger territorial resilience and improve responses to future shocks.

A stakeholder is any group or individual that can affect or is affected by a process, issue or objective (Freeman 1984).

Vulnerability is defined as ‘the degree to which a system is susceptible to or unable to cope with adverse effects of climate change including variability and extremes‘ (IPCC 2007).