A GIS-based tool for planning resilient climate cities

Sea-level rise and coastal flooding represent a severe risk for urban settlements in coastal areas. Mitigation actions may not be sufficient to limit the exposure of cities and the hazard of climate change-related events. Adaptation strategies have emerged as powerful tools to improve climate resilience of urban areas. Thus, for the past decades, studies have been restricted to assess vulnerability indices rather than measuring the actual ability of a city to adapt to climate change. Moreover, no research has focused on turning academic knowledge into real-world practice. The principal objective of this contribution was to develop a methodology—Coastal Resilience Index (CoRI)—at the heart of a GIS-based tool. Based on physical, functional, and climatic features, the tool supports policy makers by suggesting the most suitable adaptation strategy to increase urban resilience for sea-level rise and coastal flooding. The contribution presents the methodological application to the city of Naples, southern Italy. The exposure of urban facilities and assets to rising seas and/or coastal flooding makes the city very vulnerable to such phenomena. The findings indicated that there was a cross-sectional relationship between vulnerability of urban environments and adaptation to the occurrence of climate change–related phenomena. The research results represent a further step toward developing urban planning support tool for climate actions, although they need to be integrated in wider urban planning tools.