Urban Climate Resilience

This significant book addresses the most important legal issues that cities face when attempting to adapt to the changing climate. This includes how to become more resilient against the impacts of climate change such as sea level rise, increases in the intensity and frequency of storms, floods, droughts, and extreme temperatures.

A range of expert contributors are brought together to assess the current state of climate change law and policy at the city level, featuring analysis of key legal instruments that can help urban societies adapt to, and cope with, the changing climate. Chapters contain comparative assessments of urban climate change policies in cities across the world, in both developed and developing countries, including Ghana, South Africa, Indonesia, the Netherlands and the US. Additionally, the book analyses legal approaches, relying on planning law and other legal instruments in the hands of city governments, which can aid in combating specific problems such as the urban heat island effect.

Providing an up-to-date analysis of climate change adaptation and mitigation law at the level of cities, Urban Climate Resilience will be a key resource for academics and students of environmental law, public international law, urban planning and sustainability. The lessons for future policies and laws to create more climate resilient cities will also be useful for local policymakers, regulators and city government officials working on climate change at the local level.