Three-step approach for visualizing climate adaptation strategies at municipal level in Sweden
(2022) In Student thesis series INES NGEM01 20221Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
- Abstract
- The ongoing climate change has caused an increase in the global mean sea level, and this sea level rise is predicted to continue during the 21st century. The importance of including climate change in decision making is becoming more and more recognized and increasingly important for decisions yielding consequences on longer time scales. The field of climate change communication is currently expanding, and visualization has here been suggested as an approach to make abstract information appear more concrete. In Sweden local strategies and policies are important in climate adaptation however, barriers exist, for example different views on strategies within municipalities. The aim of this study was to assess the current and potential future... (More)
- The ongoing climate change has caused an increase in the global mean sea level, and this sea level rise is predicted to continue during the 21st century. The importance of including climate change in decision making is becoming more and more recognized and increasingly important for decisions yielding consequences on longer time scales. The field of climate change communication is currently expanding, and visualization has here been suggested as an approach to make abstract information appear more concrete. In Sweden local strategies and policies are important in climate adaptation however, barriers exist, for example different views on strategies within municipalities. The aim of this study was to assess the current and potential future use of visualization in adaptive planning in Swedish municipalities in response to a rising sea level. A three-step approach for visualizing climate adaptation strategies at municipal level in Sweden was proposed with the purpose of providing a basis for future planning and corporation. The approach consisted of 1) showing areas at risk, 2) showing the by the municipality suggested adaptive strategies and 3) showing the areas that would benefit from the strategies. This study sought to answer the questions: what is the current use of visualizations in Swedish municipalities regarding communication of adaptive strategies to a rising sea level, and how can Swedish municipalities improve their use of visualization as a tool for climate change communicating regarding a rising sea level in adaptive planning?
In order to fulfill the aim, I conducted three-case studies. Three costal Swedish municipalities, Gothenburg, Malmö and Trelleborg were selected and evaluated regarding their use of visualizations in climate adaptation. I analyzed the municipalities’ plans focusing on the use of visualization in adaptive strategies related to sea level rise and evaluated using an analytical framework. The three-step visualization approach was derived from existing literature, and I produced visualizations using Geographic Information System (GIS) tools and Scalable Algorithms (SCALGO) a platform providing large scale data processing of terrain. From the results it can be seen that the use of visualization in adaptive planning differs considerably between the municipalities and is mainly limited to communication of future potential sea levels. The results indicates that an inclusion of the proposed three-step approach in the municipalities´ comprehensive plans would increase the use of visualization and aid the communication of climate adaptation. The potential of using the proposed three step approach was recognized by the participating municipalities, as a tool for aiding the planning and communication of climate change adaptation. Further research is needed evaluating the three-step approach from the perspective of stakeholders and inhabitants as well as regarding the inclusion of uncertainties. (Less) - Popular Abstract (Swedish)
- Den globala medelhavsnivån har stigit till följd av den pågående klimatförändringen, och denna stigning förutspås att fortsätta framöver. Det blir därför allt viktigare att ta klimatförändringen i beaktande vid beslutsfattning, speciellt vid beslut vars konsekvenser kan tänkas påverka eller påverkas av klimatförändringens effekter. Genom klimatkommunikation kan beslutsfattare få kunskap och hjälp vid beslutsfattning samt planering, och här kan användandet av visualiseringar hjälpa till. Visualiseringar kan göra information som är abstrakt och komplicerad lättare att förstå och kommunicera. Syftet med den här studien var att utvärdera den nuvarande och potentiella framtida användningen av visualisering i adaptiv planering i svenska kommuner... (More)
- Den globala medelhavsnivån har stigit till följd av den pågående klimatförändringen, och denna stigning förutspås att fortsätta framöver. Det blir därför allt viktigare att ta klimatförändringen i beaktande vid beslutsfattning, speciellt vid beslut vars konsekvenser kan tänkas påverka eller påverkas av klimatförändringens effekter. Genom klimatkommunikation kan beslutsfattare få kunskap och hjälp vid beslutsfattning samt planering, och här kan användandet av visualiseringar hjälpa till. Visualiseringar kan göra information som är abstrakt och komplicerad lättare att förstå och kommunicera. Syftet med den här studien var att utvärdera den nuvarande och potentiella framtida användningen av visualisering i adaptiv planering i svenska kommuner i relation till den stigande havsnivån, samt att utveckla ett visualiseringsverktyg som kan utgöra ett stöd i den kommunala fysiska planeringen.
För att ta reda på hur svenska kommuner använder visualiseringar för att kommunicera klimatanpassning relaterad till den stigande havsnivån så analyserades användandet av visualiseringar i tre kommuners översiktsplaner enligt ett ramverk. Dessa kommuner var Göteborg, Malmö och Trelleborg. Visualiseringsverktyget som sedan föreslogs utgjordes av en trestegsmetod med målet utvidga och strukturera upp det kommunala användandet av visualiseringar. Den nya metoden bestod av att på kartor visualisera 1) riskområden, 2) föreslagna anpassningsstrategier och 3) områden som skulle dra nytta av anpassningsstrategierna. Denna metod testades sedan på de tre kommunernas klimatanpassningsplaner och visualiseringar skapades i Geografiska Informationssystemet (GIS) med hjälp av Scalable Algorithms (SCALGO) som är en plattform för terrängdata bearbetning.
Resultaten visar på att användningen av visualiseringar i adaptiv planering i dag är mycket begränsad och skiljer sig åt mellan kommuner. Resultaten tyder även på att om den nya trestegsmetoden skulle inkluderas i de undersökta kommunernas översiktsplaner så skulle detta leda till en ökad användning av visualiseringar för att kommunicera klimatanpassning relaterad till den stigande havsnivån. Detta skulle i sin tur kunna leda till positiva effekter för kommunikation samt planering på kommunalnivå. Det behövs ytterligare forskning för att utvärdera hur trestegsmetoden tas emot av medborgare i kommunen samt för att titta närmare på hur osäkerheter bättre kan inkluderas. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9092274
- author
- Lundström, Matilda LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- NGEM01 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Physical Geography and Ecosystem analysis, climate change, climate adaptation, sea level rise, climate communication, visualization, GIS, SCALGO
- publication/series
- Student thesis series INES
- report number
- 575
- language
- English
- additional info
- External supervisor: Sebastian Bokhari Irminger,The Swedish Geotechnical Institute (SGI), civil engineer
- id
- 9092274
- date added to LUP
- 2022-06-22 18:08:58
- date last changed
- 2022-06-22 18:08:58
@misc{9092274,
abstract = {{The ongoing climate change has caused an increase in the global mean sea level, and this sea level rise is predicted to continue during the 21st century. The importance of including climate change in decision making is becoming more and more recognized and increasingly important for decisions yielding consequences on longer time scales. The field of climate change communication is currently expanding, and visualization has here been suggested as an approach to make abstract information appear more concrete. In Sweden local strategies and policies are important in climate adaptation however, barriers exist, for example different views on strategies within municipalities. The aim of this study was to assess the current and potential future use of visualization in adaptive planning in Swedish municipalities in response to a rising sea level. A three-step approach for visualizing climate adaptation strategies at municipal level in Sweden was proposed with the purpose of providing a basis for future planning and corporation. The approach consisted of 1) showing areas at risk, 2) showing the by the municipality suggested adaptive strategies and 3) showing the areas that would benefit from the strategies. This study sought to answer the questions: what is the current use of visualizations in Swedish municipalities regarding communication of adaptive strategies to a rising sea level, and how can Swedish municipalities improve their use of visualization as a tool for climate change communicating regarding a rising sea level in adaptive planning?
In order to fulfill the aim, I conducted three-case studies. Three costal Swedish municipalities, Gothenburg, Malmö and Trelleborg were selected and evaluated regarding their use of visualizations in climate adaptation. I analyzed the municipalities’ plans focusing on the use of visualization in adaptive strategies related to sea level rise and evaluated using an analytical framework. The three-step visualization approach was derived from existing literature, and I produced visualizations using Geographic Information System (GIS) tools and Scalable Algorithms (SCALGO) a platform providing large scale data processing of terrain. From the results it can be seen that the use of visualization in adaptive planning differs considerably between the municipalities and is mainly limited to communication of future potential sea levels. The results indicates that an inclusion of the proposed three-step approach in the municipalities´ comprehensive plans would increase the use of visualization and aid the communication of climate adaptation. The potential of using the proposed three step approach was recognized by the participating municipalities, as a tool for aiding the planning and communication of climate change adaptation. Further research is needed evaluating the three-step approach from the perspective of stakeholders and inhabitants as well as regarding the inclusion of uncertainties.}},
author = {{Lundström, Matilda}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{Student thesis series INES}},
title = {{Three-step approach for visualizing climate adaptation strategies at municipal level in Sweden}},
year = {{2022}},
}