Adaptation

Adaptation has reentered spatial development concepts in the wake of the discussion on climate change since the end of the twentieth century. In historic times, people generally were more used to adapting to extreme events, such as avoiding settlements in flood-prone areas or using crop types adjusted to existing water resources. A general attitude to use technical solutions to shape the living environment for human benefit and the belief one can control natural extreme events has not only led to straightening of river beds but also to inappropriate agriculture processes and overuse of water resources. These phenomena are accompanied by population increase, mainly in developing countries and, as an overall phenomenon, in coastal and flood-prone areas. The rise in costs caused by damages of natural hazards since the end of the twentieth century can so far not be attributed to a change in weather extremes (e.g., Barredo, 2009, 2010), but it shows an increase in overall vulnerability and thus the importance to adapt to natural hazards, aswell as potential impacts of the changing climate. Traditional adaptation measures were nonstructured and often reactive. The current debate on climate change impacts leads to the need to incorporate adaptation into land-use planning and have a stronger focus on costbenefit analysis of anticipatory adaptation measures.