Our motivation

Today, the effects of urbanization and climate change are stressing the development all over the world. As cities contribute, they also become vulnerable, to climate change. With this in mind, there is increasing demand to measure and plan for mitigation, adaptation and resilience.

Hundreds of millions of people are exposed to natural hazards: sea level rise, flooding, cyclones and storms, drought, extreme heat and cold. In this scenario, infrastructure and basic services are susceptible to impacts, which affects the socioeconomic status and quality of life. Despite this, many cities and regions have not addressed these challenges, failing to incorporate effective actions, regulations and policies that focus on reducing risk caused by hazards and climate change.

Our way of thinking about Climate Change

We believe that climate change challenge gives us the perfect opportunity to understand global inequalities that are affecting the world and to promote new tools and strategies in which we consider economic production, social of life and environmental conservation.

We explore climate change analysis not from the metereological and climatology way, but we believe that the actual availability of open data and new technologies give us a huge quantity of information needed to study earth’s climate.

Our approach focus primarily on looking inside the global prediction and model and extract the most relevant data factors that influence hazard and different type of risks. We look data variations (temperature, rains) to understand how spatial metereological conditions (above all hydro-meteorological) are going to change in the space. Suddenly we take the results to develop an innovative approach to strategies and action plans, socioeconomic assessments and feasibility studies as well as climate-proof project development and design in a range of different fields.

What are the issues to be solved?

We are committed to creating suitable conditions that enhance community, environment and city strength, sustainability and resilience, not only in the present, but also as an evolving state, with the use of empowering tools.

The lack of appropriate action plans; urban and environment plans which have not been adjusted to include climate change; slow response to these rapid transformations due to a lack of capacity and resources; and lack of public awareness on climate variability are current serious issues. The challenges brought by climate change, also represent an opportunity to predict socioeconomic inequality and urban sustainability problems.

GeoAdaptive’s Integrated Approach

The mainstreaming of specific measures to assess and reduce risks and adapt to climate change into urban and regional planning is key to solid solutions, integrating them as processes to develop prosperous, equitable, and sustainable societies. We incorporate a robust approach that divides the mainstreaming in different phases (internal, organizations and educational) allowing planers and decision makers whit a tool that allows them to understand climate risk, natural ecosystem services, and run cost benefit analysis. While providing cognitive tools and capacity building, we enable the reduction of negative impacts through urban planning strategies, and allow for effective cost-benefit investments in cities and their surrounding environment. 

By developing spatial analytics and strategies that include scientific modeling and participatory processes, we focus in enhancing the understanding of present and future risk; and how disaster prevention and risk reduction actions combined with strategic planning can ensure and augment resilience in cities.

Strategic Analysis on Climate Change Impacts and Variations

• Climate change analysis looking global model and extracting factors that influence hazards [see Data and Technology].
• Illustrations of the climate change information in space and time to understand the urban and environmental transformations [see Urban Sustainability and Environmental and Conservation Planning].
• Integration of climate change scenarios in the hazard modeling.
• Climate change influence in the agricultural, economic, social and environmental aspects [see ARID project].

Multi-Hazard Modeling and probabilistic risk assessment

• Participatory hazard selection engaging stakeholders through workshops and meeting.
• Hazard modeling and simulation considering use of probabilistic projections.
• Probabilistic spatial human and socioeconomic exposure and vulnerability assessment.
• Probable economic and human loss calculation: Risk profiles development.

Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into Urban and Regional Development and Conservation

• Public awareness and community, institutional and scientific capacity building, for integrating prevention, anticipatory and adaptation measures into urban planning (internal mainstreaming).
• Land and environment policy improvement to reduce vulnerability and protect landscape assets and resources [see Environmental and Conservation Planning].
• Stakeholder engagement for policy design and disaster reduction actions (educational mainstreaming).
• Development of guideline to help the local level development planning and investment processes
• Establish processes to learn and develop from experiences.
• Downscaling Climate and Resilience strategies into decision-making and process for short, medium, and long-term results (organizational mainstreaming).

Disaster Risk Preparedness and Response (Resilience and Adaptation Planning)

• Preliminary evaluation, profile and current conditions: climate, socioeconomic, infrastructural, institutional, and regulatory.
• Local participatory process for sustainable and resilience planning actions development, implementation and monitoring.
• Capacity building to improve preparedness: community involvement, organizational plans and expert management.
• Development of a multi-sector strength strategy framework integrating risk reduction, mitigation and adaptation practices.