Frederick University congratulates Dr Paris Fokaides and Dr Byron Ioannou, members of Frederick University academic community, for co-authoring the study, which focuses on city climate plans, involving more than 300 European cities.

According to the research study published in the Nature journal Urban Sustainability, as of the end of 2020, only 167 out of 327 European cities had fully developed urban adaptation plans, with the highest number found in the UK, followed by Poland, France, and Germany. Additionally, the study revealed that the majority of local authorities are not adequately considering the needs of vulnerable populations in their climate change planning.

Publishing in a journal of the Nature series is highly prestigious and signifies that the research conducted at Frederick University is of exceptional quality and significance in its respective field. Articles published in Nature also benefit from the high visibility and credibility associated with the Nature brand, which can help attract more attention and funding for the research.

Dr Paris Fokaides, Associate Professor at Frederick University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, comments: “This work is extremely important, as it compares hundreds of climate action and adaptation plans to reduce the effects of climate change on the urban environment. The comparison creates opportunities for improvement, as it enables the transfer of know-how from city to city, and brings the European world closer to tackling the effects of climate change on the urban environment.”

According to Dr Byron Ioannou, Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture: “Unfortunately, Cyprus is not part of the advanced countries group in terms of the catchment area, efficiency, and scope of our urban climate adaptation plans. As part of this expert group, we are ready to assist local and national agencies toward this goal.”

As a result of the study, which is led by the University of Twente in the Netherlands, a new online tool called the online Climate Change Adaptation Scoring tool has been developed. This tool calculates ADAptation plan Quality Assessment (ADAQA) indices for individual cities, enabling climate practitioners to assess whether their plans cover the necessary topics and compare their progress with others. The authors suggest that governments and agencies should provide more resources, including the ADAQA indices, to assist cities in monitoring and evaluating their progress and speeding up improvements in future adaptation plans.

You can read the full paper here: Assessing the quality of urban climate adaptation plans over time.