This book addresses the importance of cultural values, local knowledge
and identity in building community resilience in place based contexts.
There is a growing impetus among policy makers and practitioners to
support and empower capacities of communities under changing climatic
conditions. Despite this there is little systematic understanding of why
approaches work at local levels or not and what makes some communities
resilient and others less so.
Europe is typically thought to be well equipped for coping with the
effects of a changing climate - because of its moderate climate, its
manifold urban-industrialized regions, it's typically highly skilled
population, its successes in science and technology and its advanced
climate change policies. However, there is a growing need to understand
the effects culture has on communal resiliency and for decision makers
and planners to pay attention to historical and cultural characteristics
and the complexity of contextualized local conditions to enable
successful and durable implementation of climate change policies,
programs and measures. This book will be a valuable resource for
researchers, students, practitioners and policy makers interested in
facilitating sustainable, resilient communities.