Browsing by Keyword "Adaptation"
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Item Dedicated versus mainstreaming approaches in local climate plans in Europe(2019-09) Reckien, D.; Salvia, M.; Pietrapertosa, F.; Simoes, S.G.; Olazabal, M.; De Gregorio Hurtado, S.; Geneletti, D.; Krkoška Lorencová, E.; D'Alonzo, V.; Krook-Riekkola, A.; Fokaides, P.A.; Ioannou, B.I.; Foley, A.; Orru, H.; Orru, K.; Wejs, A.; Flacke, J.; Church, J.M.; Feliu, E.; Vasilie, S.; Nador, C.; Matosović, M.; Flamos, A.; Spyridaki, N.-A.; Balzan, M.V.; Fülöp, O.; Grafakos, S.; Paspaldzhiev, I.; Heidrich, O.; ADAPTACIÓN AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICOCities are gaining prominence committing to respond to the threat of climate change, e.g., by developing local climate plans or strategies. However, little is known regarding the approaches and processes of plan development and implementation, or the success and effectiveness of proposed measures. Mainstreaming is regarded as one approach associated with (implementation) success, but the extent of integration of local climate policies and plans in ongoing sectoral and/or development planning is unclear. This paper analyses 885 cities across the 28 European countries to create a first reference baseline on the degree of climate mainstreaming in local climate plans. This will help to compare the benefits of mainstreaming versus dedicated climate plans, looking at policy effectiveness and ultimately delivery of much needed climate change efforts at the city level. All core cities of the European Urban Audit sample were analyzed, and their local climate plans classified as dedicated or mainstreamed in other local policy initiatives. It was found that the degree of mainstreaming is low for mitigation (9% of reviewed cities; 12% of the identified plans) and somewhat higher for adaptation (10% of cities; 29% of plans). In particular horizontal mainstreaming is a major effort for local authorities; an effort that does not necessarily pay off in terms of success of action implementation. This study concludes that climate change issues in local municipalities are best tackled by either, developing a dedicated local climate plan in parallel to a mainstreamed plan or by subsequently developing first the dedicated and later a mainstreaming plan (joint or subsequent “dual track approach”). Cities that currently provide dedicated local climate plans (66% of cities for mitigation; 26% of cities for adaptation) may follow-up with a mainstreaming approach. This promises effective implementation of tangible climate actions as well as subsequent diffusion of climate issues into other local sector policies. The development of only broad sustainability or resilience strategies is seen as critical.Item How are cities planning to respond to climate change? Assessment of local climate plans from 885 cities in the EU-28(2018-08-01) Reckien, Diana; Salvia, Monica; Heidrich, Oliver; Church, Jon Marco; Pietrapertosa, Filomena; De Gregorio-Hurtado, Sonia; D'Alonzo, Valentina; Foley, Aoife; Simoes, Sofia G.; Krkoška Lorencová, Eliška; Orru, Hans; Orru, Kati; Wejs, Anja; Flacke, Johannes; Olazabal, Marta; Geneletti, Davide; Feliu, Efrén; Vasilie, Sergiu; Nador, Cristiana; Krook-Riekkola, Anna; Matosović, Marko; Fokaides, Paris A.; Ioannou, Byron I.; Flamos, Alexandros; Spyridaki, Niki-Artemis; Balzan, Mario V.; Fülöp, Orsolya; Paspaldzhiev, Ivan; Grafakos, Stelios; Dawson, Richard; ADAPTACIÓN AL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICOThe Paris Agreement aims to limit global mean temperature rise this century to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. This target has wide-ranging implications for Europe and its cities, which are the source of substantial greenhouse gas emissions. This paper reports the state of local planning for climate change by collecting and analysing information about local climate mitigation and adaptation plans across 885 urban areas of the EU-28. A typology and framework for analysis was developed that classifies local climate plans in terms of their alignment with spatial (local, national and international) and other climate related policies. Out of eight types of local climate plans identified in total we document three types of stand-alone local climate plans classified as type A1 (autonomously produced plans), A2 (plans produced to comply with national regulations) or A3 (plans developed for international climate networks). There is wide variation among countries in the prevalence of local climate plans, with generally more plans developed by central and northern European cities. Approximately 66% of EU cities have a type A1, A2, or A3 mitigation plan, 26% an adaptation plan, and 17% a joint adaptation and mitigation plan, while about 33% lack any form of stand-alone local climate plan (i.e. what we classify as A1, A2, A3 plans). Mitigation plans are more numerous than adaptation plans, but planning for mitigation does not always precede planning for adaptation. Our analysis reveals that city size, national legislation, and international networks can influence the development of local climate plans. We found that size does matter as about 80% of the cities with above 500,000 inhabitants have a comprehensive and stand-alone mitigation and/or an adaptation plan (A1). Cities in four countries with national climate legislation (A2), i.e. Denmark, France, Slovakia and the United Kingdom, are nearly twice as likely to produce local mitigation plans, and five times more likely to produce local adaptation plans, compared to cities in countries without such legislation. A1 and A2 mitigation plans are particularly numerous in Denmark, Poland, Germany, and Finland; while A1 and A2 adaptation plans are prevalent in Denmark, Finland, UK and France. The integration of adaptation and mitigation is country-specific and can mainly be observed in two countries where local climate plans are compulsory, i.e. France and the UK. Finally, local climate plans produced for international climate networks (A3) are mostly found in the many countries where autonomous (type A1) plans are less common. This is the most comprehensive analysis of local climate planning to date. The findings are of international importance as they will inform and support decision-making towards climate planning and policy development at national, EU and global level being based on the most comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of local climate planning available to date.Item Minimizing endpoint variability through reinforcement learning during reaching movements involving shoulder, elbow and wrist(2017-07-18) Mehler, David Marc Anton; Reichenbach, Alexandra; Klein, Julius; Diedrichsen, Jörn; Tecnalia Research & InnovationReaching movements are comprised of the coordinated action across multiple joints. The human skeleton is redundant for this task because different joint configurations can lead to the same endpoint in space. How do people learn to use combinations of joints that maximize success in goal-directed motor tasks? To answer this question, we used a 3-degreeof-freedom manipulandum to measure shoulder, elbow and wrist joint movements during reaching in a plane. We tested whether a shift in the relative contribution of the wrist and elbow joints to a reaching movement could be learned by an implicit reinforcement regime. Unknown to the participants, we decreased the task success for certain joint configurations (wrist flexion or extension, respectively) by adding random variability to the endpoint feedback. In return, the opposite wrist postures were rewarded in the two experimental groups (flexion and extension group). We found that the joint configuration slowly shifted towards movements that provided more control over the endpoint and hence higher task success. While the overall learning was significant, only the group that was guided to extend the wrist joint more during the movement showed substantial learning. Importantly, all changes in movement pattern occurred independent of conscious awareness of the experimental manipulation. These findings suggest that the motor system is generally sensitive to its output variability and can optimize joint-space solutions that minimize task-relevant output variability. We discuss biomechanical biases (e.g. joint's range of movement) that could impose hurdles to the learning process.Item Persistence in complex systems(2022-04-29) Salcedo-Sanz, S.; Casillas-Pérez, D.; Del Ser, J.; Casanova-Mateo, C.; Cuadra, L.; Piles, M.; Camps-Valls, G.; IAPersistence is an important characteristic of many complex systems in nature, related to how long the system remains at a certain state before changing to a different one. The study of complex systems’ persistence involves different definitions and uses different techniques, depending on whether short-term or long-term persistence is considered. In this paper we discuss the most important definitions, concepts, methods, literature and latest results on persistence in complex systems. Firstly, the most used definitions of persistence in short-term and long-term cases are presented. The most relevant methods to characterize persistence are then discussed in both cases. A complete literature review is also carried out. We also present and discuss some relevant results on persistence, and give empirical evidence of performance in different detailed case studies, for both short-term and long-term persistence. A perspective on the future of persistence concludes the work.