How can telecoupling contribute?

In the previous steps, we have learned how complex drivers of change shape urbanization, urban concentration, as well as the spatial configuration of cities in general. We have also explored relevant policy frameworks and their relevance for urban adaptation. However, urbanization is often dissociated from the ecosystems that sustain human life on Earth.

Telecoupling describes connections between human settlements and the natural environment, often across distant spaces: what happens in one particular place, for example in European cities, has concrete impacts on other regions of the world. If we think about urban adaptation, we need to be aware of these interconnected processes across space and time. In other words: the city is not a container that can be seen in isolation from its wider relationships with the world, and processes in one particular city might have very concrete impacts in another country.