RAMSES Transition Handbook and Training Package

The RAMSES project has developed research on the following topics in urban climate change adaptation:

• Modelling climate projections and scenarios to understand future climate impacts and illustrate the effects of specific adaptation measures for cities;
• Understanding how to make architecture and infrastructure more resilient to climate change;
• Evaluating the costs of climate change and the benefits of different adaptation measures;
• Understanding the impacts that climate change has on health and how different adaptation measures can reduce climate impacts on public health;
• Conducting high-level vulnerability assessments in order to understand which the climatic trends in European macro-regions are and consequently which are the main risks that cities in these regions are exposed to;
• Conducting detailed vulnerability analyses in the cities of London, Antwerp and Bilbao at a high spatial resolution to draw lessons from these cities’ experiences;
• Understanding existing political frameworks and decision making tools that support adaptation, and drawing lessons from those.

The Transition Handbook embeds the key RAMSES findings in a process management cycle, based on the Urban Adaptation Support Tool. It synthesises the project results in a practical step-by-step guide containing resources that cities can use in climate adaptation planning. The Training Package complements the Transition Handbook by taking stock of existing toolkits to support adaptation management in cities and proposes worksheets and exercises that cities can use to progress on their adaptation endeavours. The worksheets are cross-referenced in the Transition Handbook so as to complement the information contained in it and to offer cities a clear path towards becoming better adapted to climate change.