Abstract
Urban green infrastructure (UGI) is a prominent concept towards climate
adaptation and urban resilience, but is also affected by droughts and
heat. Hence, this study aims to advance the multi-assessment of drought
and heat risks for UGI through a framework with conceptual and
methodological features, paving the way towards knowledge creation and
decision support. The framework was systematically developed, starting
with defining the situation, analyzing concepts, and finally,
constructing the framework. The situation is interpreted as a Coupled
Human and Natural System to represent the biophysical and immaterial
elements, processes and interrelations. Further, the concepts of risk,
UGI and ecosystem services come together in a risk system showing the
compound hazards, the exposure, and the cascading vulnerabilities of the
UGI. The drought and heat risk assessment framework distinguishes two
stages, multi-risk analysis, and multi-criteria risk evaluation. The
analysis includes definition and interpretation of the UGI situation
under drought and heat conditions, analyzing the hazards, exposure, and
vulnerabilities of the system, and translating the risk system into an
indicator-based information system. Hereby, the vulnerability analysis
of the biophysical UGI aspects comprises the susceptibility and
resilience of UGI entities, as well as the degree to which providing
ecosystem functions and services can be affected. The multi-criteria
risk evaluation covers the assignment of thresholds and weights for
indicators, in addition to the aggregation methods. The resulting
framework intends to support local actors in the risk assessment of
current and future conditions, fostering evidence-based decisions and
interventions to deal with risks.