Climate Change Adaptation in Vulnerable Cities : A Case Study of Adaptive Capacity and Adaptation in the City of Buenos Aires

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of climate change adaptation policies in vulnerable cities, where the susceptibility to climate change related hazards is of immediate concern. By applying a qualitative text analysis method on the Buenos Aires Climate Change Action Plan, the focus of which is on the formulation of the specific courses of action, goals and targets of the policy programme, the paper aims to investigate how the city of Buenos Aires is addressing present vulnerabilities, as well as strategising for the future impacts of climate change. The main findings of this paper suggest that the issue of high population density together with increasing recurrence of extreme weather events is at the core of the city’s strategy in addressing present vulnerabilities as well as in strategising for the expected environmental challenges. Additionally, the results are related to the literature on adaptation, adaptive capacity and vulnerability as well as previous research on climate change adaptation in cities of the global North, to provide a contextualised analysis of the adaptation policy strategies of Buenos Aires in relation to our current understanding of urban climate adaptation.