News & articles
Explore our latest news and articles to find out more about SMARTER and systemic climate adaptation.
Building long-term flood resilience: how Ostend and Flanders are rethinking approaches to climate adaptation
As flood risks increase across Belgium's North Sea coast, SMARTER's Belgium Climate Adaptation Lab is bringing together researchers, policymakers and local residents to develop climate adaptation solutions that work with both communities and the wider landscape. Discover how systems thinking and co-design are helping build long-term resilience in Ostend and beyond.
To limit the impacts of the climate crisis, we must adopt a systemic approach to climate adaptation
Quick, isolated fixes to the impacts of extreme climate and weather events have limited the success of many adaptation interventions. To effectively build climate resilience across Europe, we must adopt a systemic approach to climate adaptation — considering the interconnections between different systems and adaptation solutions on different sectors, ecosystems and communities.
Nature-based solutions at the forefront of sea level rise and flood resilience in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area
The sequence of severe storms that hit Portugal in early 2026 brought to light the need for new approaches for building climate resilience to sea level rise and flooding. Francesca Poggi and Catarina Castro Henriques, our partners in our Portugal Climate Adaptation Lab, describe how nature-based solutions must be at the foreground of climate action to effectively tackle risks facing urban waterfronts in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area.
Climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience: what’s the difference?
Climate mitigation, climate adaptation and climate resilience are important terms commonly used to describe different climate measures. However, they can sometimes be confused or used interchangeably. We’ve unpacked these important terms to help explain the key aspects of our research, as well as to help you navigate the different dimensions of climate action.
Nature-based playgrounds: designing climate resilient infrastructure to boost community health and wellbeing in Finland
In Finland, where infrastructure has been built to withstand harsh winters rather than intense heatwaves, advancing climate adaptation is necessary to help people, nature and the economy deal with changing weather and climate conditions. Tytti Pasanen, a senior researcher in environmental health at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, explains how SMARTER’s Finland Climate Adaptation Lab is helping daycare centres in Tampere and Kuopio to manage climate risks.
Climate adaptation in Europe: how can we translate EU strategy into local action?
As climate impacts become increasingly unavoidable, bringing with them serious risks not just for nature, but for people and the economy too, climate adaptation efforts must be strengthened urgently. But, how can we ensure that efforts are locally and community-led, while also aligning with and supporting both national and EU strategies?
Introducing SMARTER: A new EU project increasing resilience to climate change
SMARTER is a new EU-funded project working to advance climate adaptation across Europe through a systemic approach - one that recognises the connections between society, nature, technology and the economy.