Bringing everyone
on board

Cities like Cork and Logroño are tackling climate change while striving for sustainable development, but actions often happen in silos, leading to missed opportunities and conflicting measures.

Social justice is at the heart of sustainable development, as those facing systemic barriers are often the most impacted by climate change.

This poses a challenge to the local government:

How can cities identify synergies and trade-offs, while balancing adaptation, mitigation, and sustainable development and simultaneously ensuring a just transition?
Illustration of a heatwave strategy
Cork City
Cork is a city of more than two hundred thousand people and is the second largest urban population in Ireland.
— Everyone on Board
Case Study 5

SolutionThe city of Cork and Logroño used a combination of REACHOUT climate services to find answers​​

Understanding who is most at risk

Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)

Using the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), both cities mapped which communities were most exposed to flooding and heat.

This allowed them to prioritise areas where climate action was most needed.

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In Logroño, the SVI tool was used alongside the Thermal Assessment Tool and Pluvial Flood Tool to evaluate how extreme heat and heavy rainfall impact vulnerable populations.

Figure 1:
Heat and social vulnerability hotspot areas for the city of Logroño. The maps are produced by integrating the Thermal Assessment Tool, Pluvial Flood Tool and SVI-Tool The land cover dataset stems from Copernicus. -Produced by Deltares, based on outcomes of Tecnalia and UCC.

Credit: Phuu Kyaw.

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In the city of Cork, the SVI tool helped assess vulnerability to flooding, allowing decision-makers to apply an equity rating to flood risk.

Figure 2:
Flood risk map superposed with Social Vulnerability Index in Cork - produced by Deltares and UCC
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Priority

Aligning Climate and Social Goals

The results from the SVI tool helped local governments integrate social equity into urban planning decisions:

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In the city of Cork, landscape architects and urban planners used vulnerability maps to select locations for new parks ensuring they provide the greatest benefit to both communities and the environment.

Figure 3:
Photo of Cork City by Nathan Hurst

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In Logroño, after identifying the most vulnerable areas, the city reviewed the currently planned heat reduction measures to ensure they were located in the areas that needed them most.

Figure 4:
Overview of selected planned heat reduction measures in Logroño and their approximate locations.

Base layer represents heat & flood hotspots by integrating Thermal Assessment Tool, Pluvial Flood Tool and SVI-Tool. Umbraculos = shading structure.

Fuentes = fountain (by Deltares, based on outcomes of UCC. credit: Phuu Kyaw).
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Action

Taking a Long-Term Approach to Just Resilience

the Climate Resilient Development Pathways tool

Both cities applied the Climate Resilient Development Pathways (CRDPs) tool to move from analysis to action.

This approach helped decision-makers plan and sequence mitigation and adaptation measures over time, ensuring flexibility in a changing climate while meeting long-term sustainability goals.

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Logroño used CRDPs to assess whether planned heat adaptation projects were aligned with their long-term climate and equity goals.

Figure 5:
View of the river Ebro in Logroño, Spain. Photo credits: Ruben Holthuijsen.

The city of Cork was at a crossroads: Should they prioritize flood protection and maintain a compact city? Or should they focus on development at higher elevations to reduce long-term flood risk?

To navigate this, the city explored three urban growth strategies:

Protect and Compact – Use floodwalls and, in the long term, a tidal barrier to allow full development of the floodplain Docklands. Partially Protect – Design the city to partially coexist with flooding by relying on technological interventions to manage risks. Accommodate Flooding and Sprawl – Shift development to higher city edges, reducing reliance on major flood infrastructure while allowing some areas to adapt to flooding.

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Each strategy presents trade-offs between resilience, urban development, and infrastructure investment.

The CRDP approach allowed the city to weigh these options, ensuring that urban planning decisions are resilient, strategic, and sustainable in the long term.

Figure 6:
Key decisions over time for different future strategies for Cork City, produced by Deltares. The strategies (1,2,3) integrate adaptation, mitigation, and sustainable development for all (Langendijk et al. under review).

Insights for other local governments​

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Collaboration across departments was essential in the cities of Cork and Logroño to integrate adaptation, mitigation, and sustainable development policies. This collaboration is crucial for other cities looking to implement these and similar tools, as it ensures that cities:
This collaboration ensured the data was not just technical but actionable, aligning with the cities' broader goals.​

Insights on the ground

Hear from city officers, tool developers, and experts driving change.
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