Climate Change Resilience in the Built Environment: Principles for Adapting to a Changing Climate

This industry guide provides a comprehensive set of principles for mainstreaming climate adaptation and resilience in the built environment sector. Although lacking implementation details, the principles are evidence-based and drawn from established good practices, familiar to experts in adaptation and resilience. The guide focuses on actions that can mitigate damage from both gradual climate impacts and extreme weather events.

1. At the city scale, the principles include adopting land use policies to prevent development in high-risk areas, assessing vulnerable locations for priority interventions, and evaluating the risk of climate change on physical assets and infrastructure. Building regulations and guidelines should target specific climate risks while aiming for resilience to changing extreme weather conditions.
2. At the community and neighborhood scale, principles involve protecting natural resources, upgrading community assets for improved resilience, and establishing emergency hubs for extreme weather events.
3. At the building scale, the guide recommends implementing passive design techniques to mitigate extreme heat or cold, adopting backup strategies for extreme weather events, and designing for durability, disassembly, and maintenance.