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Covenant of Mayors - Europe
News article15 February 2023

What is just resilience and why is it so important? Listen to Episode 2 of our Podcast to find out!

We are back with the second episode of our podcast series on adaptation! This time we interview Alexandra Popartan on how to make our cities more resilient and just at the same time tackling climate and social questions as one.

Podcast Episode 2

Climate change disproportionately impacts more vulnerable populations. Paradoxically, if we’re not careful, the very measures that we put in place to tackle climate change can contribute to increasing these inequalities. On a city level, we often see this when nature-based solutions intended to make cities more resilient lead to “green gentrification”. This means the cost of living rises in areas that are made more green, and local populations are displaced… often to parts of the city that are more exposed to climate disasters and toxic waste.

This is why the concept of “just resilience” is fundamental. But what does “just resilience” mean? And how can we translate the concept into concrete actions and measures at local level?

These are the questions we tackled in our second episode of the Covenant of Mayors Podcast on climate adaptation with a guest expert on the topic: Alexandra Popartan. As a Post-doctoral researcher from the Univerity of Girona and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Alexandra has worked extensively on environmental justice and on the political and social implications of nature-based solutions to climate change, regarding water, food and energy.

In our second episode of our Adaptation podcast, we do not hold back and delve straight into uncomfortable questions and dilemmas that all local governments are often grappling with. How to balance climate and social issues? And how do we make sure that solutions to one does not deteriorate the problems of the other?

In the first part, we go into more depth into the meaning of “just resilience” and look at why this should be an integral part of city’s climate and energy strategies.

In the second part, we explore what this means in more practical terms. How this translates into governance, into urban planning, into regulations and measures, and into our broader economic system.  

From questions of participatory politics to gender equality and rethinking our capitalistic economic model based on growth, this episode will launch you into deep reflection, while giving you some concrete examples of what you should do to make sure your city’s climate strategy is truly just.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE

This podcast episode is part of the Covenant of Mayors Podcast series on Adaptation, looking at what cities across Europe are doing to adapt to climate change. This series is developed in the context of our 2-year pilot programme on Adaptation, the Policy Support Facility, focused on helping local and regional authorities move from planning to implementation of adaptation actions​.

Check out past podcast episodes:

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Publication date
15 February 2023