Impetus4Change: knowledge coproduction for resilient cities

Improving Near-Term Climate Predictions for Social Transformation (Impetus4Change) is a Horizon Europe research project where urban practitioners, social scientists and climate modellers work together to improve the quality and accessibility of near-term climate information in cities and regions. Impetus4Change provides seamless climate information across timescales ranging from sub(seasonal) to a few decades at local spatial scales where impacts and risks are most keenly felt and where on-the ground adaptation interventions are being implemented.

Impetus4Change co-produces this highly localised near-term climate knowledge with stakeholders in four Demonstrator cities: Barcelona, Bergen, Paris, and Prague. The first step in the coproduction process was co-exploration, which included stakeholder mapping and initial discussions between scientists and these local stakeholders to understand how and what climate services may best fit the local context. This involved appreciating how each city currently approaches climate adaptation, its climate information needs and the current use of climate services to support the formulation of adaptation strategies and decision making. The users from the stakeholder group who were interested in working with Impetus4Change then helped to co-design mock-ups of climate services using existing climate data. This allowed profound discussions related to the structure, data post-processing and delivery formats expected for the final urban climate services at Adaptalabs (‘hackathons’ dedicated to co-producing urban climate services) and other participatory events. The new climate data produced during Impetus4Change was used to co-develop the final climate services. Running alongside these steps was the co-evaluation stage which included a focus on the coproduction process itself as well as the value of the end products. The results from these four-year case studies will form the climate services implementation and adoption support guidance pack for each demonstrator from which we will synthesise an overall roadmap of best practices for coproduction of urban climate services.