An integrative spatial approach to reducing risk posed by heat and heavy rainfall for the growing polycentric region of Stuttgart

For the Stuttgart region, as a polycentric, highly dense area with strong economic growth, adapting to the effects of climate change is a key prerequisite for maintaining the quality of life and living in the region’s 179 towns and communities, as well as the security and competitiveness of the region as a whole. The region is already characterized by serious summer heat stress and air quality problems. Heavy rain events, such as the one most recently in July 2021, have repeatedly hit important infrastructure facilities. Adapting to such events and their impact is a priority for the region, as is creating more housing for the growing population and space for the growing economy. In order to avoid conflicts between these and other goals, an integrative strategic spatial planning approach at the city-regional level is required. This not requires up-to-date information on the probability and spatial distribution of heat stress and heavy rain events and spatially differentiated information on the vulnerability of society and the physical urban and regional structures. In order to reduce damage from extreme precipitation events and reduce the health effects of heat stress, regional and local planners need to know where the greatest need for adaptation lies while considering future processes of social change and changes in land use. Reliable methods for surveying and spatially representing vulnerabilities and adaptation needs and for integrating this with information about climate hazards and physical structures are lacking. In this talk, we illustrate this problem using the example of the Stuttgart region. We present an approach to record and evaluate the current and future vulnerability in the Stuttgart region using socio-economic and settlement-structural parameters.