Towards a Climate-Resilient Future Together : Tools for Engaging Citizens for a Better Future

Although many local authorities underline the important role of citizens in climate adaptation, many experience difficulties with organizing citizen participation in a way that is meaningful to both citizens and policymakers.

Although many local authorities underline the important role of citizens in climate adaptation, many experience difficulties with organizing citizen participation in a way that is meaningful to both citizens and policymakers. Climate change is for many simply not a top priority. Besides, the future is often rather abstract to people, citizens in particular. We argue that practical tools are needed to help citizens structure the process of thinking about and designing the future of their living environment under the impacts of climate change. The toolbox Towards a climate-resilient future together offers practical foresight methods and tools for organizing citizen participation in the process of building climate-resilient futures. It provides an overview of the state the art of and hands-on guidance for executing participatory foresight methods and showcases some of the lessons learned from several international research programs on citizen engagement. In doing so, the toolbox can assist practitioners, students and academics concerned with the question of how local communities in urban and rural areas could adapt to climate change impacts and become more resilient in the future. It is suitable for readers without any experience in citizen participation and/or foresight, while more experienced readers will find innovative combinations of methods and tools that are unique within the field of citizen participation and foresight..