Installationsföreläsning – Sebastien Rauch

Välkommen till Sebastien Rauchs installationsföreläsning som professor vid avdelningen för vatten miljö teknik, institutionen för arkitektur och samhällsbyggnadsteknik. Gemensamt firande med kaffe och tårta efter föreläsningen.

Abstract

Climate change is widely recognized as one of humanity’s greatest contemporary challenges. While actions need to be taken to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, there is growing realization that society needs to adapt to the potential impacts of climate change. Nordic cities, like many urban areas globally, are especially vulnerable to changing precipitation patterns with more frequent and intense extreme rainfall events. Several Nordic cities have already experienced major floodings, including Copenhagen in 2011, Malmö in 2014 and Gävle in 2021. Flooding risks in urban areas are amplified by impervious surfaces that disrupt the natural water cycle. Densification, which is favoured politically to reduce the need for transportation and cut greenhouse gas emissions, will lead to more impervious surfaces. In this context, the integration of stormwater management in urban planning is essential for achieving urban sustainability and resilience.

In Sweden, municipalities are responsible for dealing with cloudburst-related flooding accord the Planning and Building Act (PBL). As flooding risks are projected to increase, municipalities are preparing actions plan for flood mitigation and climate adaptation. The implementation of these plans remains however limited in many municipalities.

How do we transition from strategies and plans to the implementation of solutions? How do we select the most effective and appropriate solutions? Can climate adaptation support sustainable urban development? The lecture will summarize insights from current research on urban climate adaptation and will attempt to answer these questions. The lecture will also provide an outlook toward my future research in the field of urban climate adaptation.