JenKAS – The Jena Climate Adaptation Strategy | Umweltbundesamt

Background and Goals

The city of Jena has around 105,000 inhabitants and functions as a major local centre. Since 2000, Jena has recorded a slight but consistent rise in population. However, the current forecast for Jena predicts a slight fall in population by 2025.

The urban climate is shaped by the location in a valley, surrounded by predominantly steep slopes. This location prevents extensive ventilation and therefore, in low-exchange weather conditions, promotes inversions and, in sunny summer conditions, overheating of the urban area. At the same time, the valley location intensifies the prevailing continental dryness, which means that Jena is among the warmest and driest cities in Eastern Germany.

In terms of the impact of climate change, this results in a very specific effect. Particularly when combined with the valley location, increasingly significant summer overheating and inversions are expected. Because of dry and hot periods, there are increasingly problems of heat islands and an increased risk of forest fires or water shortages for agriculture in the surrounding area. There is likely to be a raised risk of extreme precipitation events bringing about more frequent flooding, particularly in the narrow and steep side valleys.

"JenKAS - Jena Climate Adaptation Strategy" is the name given to a concept drawn up as part of the model project to help the city of Jena adapt to climate effects. It extends the municipal targets for energy and climate protection by incorporating climate adaptation considerations, and takes account of all climate-related fields of urban planning activity in the city.

Objectives:

•  Incorporation of the impact of climate change into urban development processes with an integrated approach;
•  Formulation of a targeted local strategy for adaptation to climate change;
•  Improvement of databases for dealing with climate change;
•  Raising public awareness;
•  Making climate change information and data available to local players through an information, cooperation and management system.

To achieve these project objectives, the following steps have been taken:

•  Analysis of measurement and modelling data and documentation in a local climate change report,
•  Assessment and documentation of local impact of climate change in the individual areas of activity,
•  Development of specific spatial adaptation measures,
•  Creation of cooperative networks for specific players through workshops and Internet-based information portals, and
•  Publicity work based on events, workshops, presentations and publications.

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