The European project IMAGINE Adaptation, led by the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), has reached a significant milestone with the confirmation of its first nine partner cities: Bristol (United Kingdom), Malmö (Sweden), Alghero (Italy), Seville (Spain), Madrid (Spain), Bogotá (Colombia), Santiago (Chile), Rosario (Argentina), and Gold Coast (Australia).
These cities will collaborate with the IMAGINE Adaptation team to address one of the most critical challenges in local climate adaptation: how to effectively monitor, evaluate, report, and learn (MERL) from implemented adaptation interventions. In a context marked by uncertainty, complexity, and change, the team works with local stakeholders to improve how adaptation is tracked, assessed, and understood.
“Adaptation is an ongoing, context-specific process, just like MERL,” explains Marta Olazabal, project lead and Ikerbasque Associate Research Professor at BC3. “We work closely with our partner cities to understand the challenges they face in assessing adaptation in practice, and to co-develop practical, place-based approaches that enhance learning and decision-making.”
Over the past 12 months, the IMAGINE Adaptation team has engaged with authorities, practitioners, citizen groups, and local researchers in each city to jointly create tailored work plans for each territory. These plans lay the foundation for a two- to three-year collaboration focused on addressing specific gaps in adaptation evaluation and strengthening local capacity to define, measure, and learn from their actions.
Call for Cities
The cities were selected through an open call. The selected applicants demonstrated a strong local commitment to climate adaptation initiatives and a clear interest in improving their MERL systems. Each chosen city now has a local working group of 3 to 6 stakeholders who guide and co-produce the research process in their city.
“Our aim is not to impose external frameworks, but to work with local adaptation stakeholders to define what adaptation means to them and how we can better understand what works, what doesn’t, and why,” adds Ana Terra Amorim-Maia, a postdoctoral researcher at BC3. “We recognize that every step in the MERL process comes with challenges that local actors have tackled in creative and committed ways.”
Cecilia Alda Vidal, another BC3 postdoctoral researcher on the team, emphasizes that the IMAGINE Adaptation team is learning just as much from local partners as the research team itself is contributing.
Global Community
The IMAGINE Adaptation project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and running from 2023 to 2027, uses a transdisciplinary approach to assess multiple forms of knowledge and emphasize early collaboration between researchers and local stakeholders. This way of working helps expand the solution space and generate evaluation practices that are more equitable, relevant, and context-sensitive.
Throughout the initiative, the final 12 partner cities will form a global community of practice, sharing insights, lessons, and innovations as their MERL adaptation processes evolve. By creating spaces for dialogue and ongoing learning, the project aims to foster the legitimacy and effectiveness of local adaptation planning and action.
“Adaptation is not just a technical task—it is a political and relational process,” concludes Maria Loroño-Leturiondo, postdoctoral researcher at BC3. “Through joint knowledge production and a focus on learning, cities can build stronger foundations for well-informed and inclusive long-term adaptation.”
.png)
