The Governance of Local Urban Climate Adaptation: Towards Participation, Collaboration and Shared Responsibilities

This paper focuses on understanding the institutional determinants of adaptive capacity to illustrate emerging challenges and opportunities for climate adaptation in the context of urban pluvial flood risk management. The paper explores arid compares the formal-legal as well as the perceived roles and responsibilities of key actor groups in the context of adaptation to urban pluvial flooding in the Dutch city Arnhem. The concluding section questions the assumed power of formal-legal rules and institutions in motivating key stakeholders to take action. It poses that, in order to stimulate participation and collaboration in local climate adaptation, more attention should be paid to the informal institutional context, in particular to the perception of responsibilities.