Including a Vulnerability Centred Adaptation Perspective in Urban Climate Assessment : The Case of International Women in the Malmö Lund Region

Sammanfattning: The topic of climate adaptation has gained momentum in the last decade as a response to the increasing rate at which global climate is changing. There are two leading discourses to climate adaptation, Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) perspectives, which focuses on adapting to specific climate hazards and scenarios, and Vulnerability Centred Adaptation (VCA), which focuses on the socio-economic and environmental factors that compound climate impacts. However, despite global inclusivity efforts to adaptation, the CCA approach is predominant in developing economies. This empirical study attempts to close this gap by using the VCA approach to a climate risk, impact, and vulnerability assessment of the Malmö Lund Region, Sweden, and to showcase the relevance of including a VCA approach within developing economies. The primary data comes from using a semi-structured interview method of twelve international women who have moved to the region in the last decade. Simultaneously, semi-structured interviews were also conducted with a secondary sample group which consisted of six urban professionals who either worked with environmental issues, planning, or social vulnerability. The latter climate and vulnerability conversations were used to situate the IW’s perspective in the discussion. The results demonstrated that: 1. Climate risk depended on the duration, intensity of temperature, wind, light levels, and precipitation, or climate barriers, and the women’s ability to protect themselves. 2. The barriers negatively impacted them socially, physically, and emotionally, but also allowed them to experience new climate-related experiences and activities. 3. Finally, their adaptive capacity depended on the socio-economic and cultural circumstances which enhanced their vulnerability, while their adaptive capacity relied on their ability to apply micro-adaptations, reach out to community support, and use their previous climate experience. The findings confirm the need for an intersectional and bottom-up approach to climate adaptation, as it showcased how climate did impact the women and influenced their adaptation process in region despite it not being a primary cause of concern for these women. Secondly, it raises awareness of the non-climate predispositions of these women to climate vulnerability. Thirdly, the findings also show that variations in climate assessments do not only depend on long-term climate data in relation to climate hazards and risks, but also the women’s past climate experience, their current life circumstances, and the time spent in the host country. Finally, this research calls for urban climate adaptation strategies to account for a vulnerability perspective within their initial risk, vulnerability, and impact assessment and use these valuable insights to inform the planning stages of climate adaptation process for urban citizen.