As cities in the U.S. and around the world are increasingly experiencing the impacts of climate change, many are starting to include climate considerations in their planning and policymaking processes. Cities are not only looking to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, industries, and transportation to prevent future climate change but are also looking to prepare for and manage climatic changes that have already been set in motion.

Urban climate adaptation to date has mostly focused on how cities can protect their physical assets from potential climate-related disasters, with an increasing emphasis on enhancing resilience, or creating places that can absorb and withstand climatic shocks. Scholars and practitioners have critiqued climate adaptation’s current emphasis on building physical resilience to climate change, pointing out that adaptation plans rarely incorporate equity or social vulnerability. Consequently, calls have emerged for climate adaptation to focus on human vulnerabilities instead.

To that end, this book is about why and how the health impacts of climate change should be given a more prominent role in climate adaptation efforts at the local level. While the lack of attention to climate-related health risks in adaptation plans and policies have been pointed out by many, this has not yet led to climate adaptation planning and policymaking processes that situate citizens’ health and well-being front and center. Therefore, cities will need new approaches to enhance awareness of and facilitate prioritization of climate risk management choices that will build human resilience to climate change.

Dr. Ella Jisun Kim is at the World Bank, where she specializes in climate change and disaster risk management. She obtained her Ph.D. in environmental planning and public policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2018.

Anthem Environment and Sustainability Initiative

List of Figures and Tables; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Cities, Climate Change, and Public Health; Chapter 3 Collective Climate Adaptation at the Local Level; Chapter 4 Framing Climate Change as a Public Health Issue; Chapter 5 Role- Play Simulations; Chapter 6 Digital Games; Chapter 7 Role- Play Simulations versus Digital Games; Chapter 8 Discussion and Policy Recommendations; Appendix A. Issue Framing Vignettes; Appendix B. Issue Framing Survey Questions; Appendix C. Role- Play Simulation Before- Survey Questions; Appendix D. Role- Play Simulation After- Survey Questions; Appendix E. Role- Play Simulation Facilitator Questionnaire; Appendix F. Role- Play Simulation Debriefi ng Script; Appendix G. Role- Play Simulation Post- Game Interview Questions; Appendix H. Role- Play Simulation Workshop Sample Characteristics; Appendix I. Digital Game Before- Survey Questions; Appendix J. Digital Game After- Survey Questions; Appendix K. Digital Game Post- Game Interview Questions; Appendix L. Digital Game Sample Characteristics; References; Index.