Assuming the importance of public space design in the implementation of effective adaptation action towards urban flooding, this paper identifies and systematizes a wide range of flood adaptation measures pertinent to the design of public spaces. It presents findings from both a systematic literature review and an empirical analysis retrieved from concrete public space design precedents. It concludes with the presentation of a conceptual framework that organizes the identified measures in accordance to their main, and secondary, infrastructural strategies. The intention behind the disclosed framework is to aid a multitude of professionals during the initial exploratory phases of public space projects that incorporate flooding adaptation capacities.

Future sea-level rises on the urban waterfront of coastal and riverbanks cities will not be uniform. The impact of floods is exacerbated by population density in nearshore urban areas, and combined with land conversion and urbanization, the vulnerability of coastal towns and public spaces in particular is significantly increased. The empirical analysis of a selected number of waterfront projects, namely the winners of the Mies Van Der Rohe Prize, highlighted the different morphological characteristics of public spaces, in relation to the approximation to the water body: near the shoreline, in and on water. The critical reading of selected architectures related to water is open to multiple insights, allowing to shift the design attention from the building to the public space on the waterfronts. The survey makes it possible to delineate contemporary features and lay the framework for urban development in coastal or riverside areas.

Urban public space is extraordinarily adaptable under a pattern of relatively stable changes. However, when facing unprecedented and potentially extreme climatic changes, public spaces may not have the same adaptation capacity. In this context, planned adaptation gains strength against “business as usual”. While public spaces are among the most vulnerable areas to climatic hazards, they entail relevant characteristics for adaptation efforts. As such, public space design can lead to effective adaptation undertakings, explicitly influencing urban design practices as we know them. Amongst its different intrinsic roles and benefits, such as being a civic common gathering place of social and economic exchanges, public space may have found an enhanced protagonism under the climate change adaptation perspective. In light of the conducted empirical analysis, which gathered existing examples of public spaces with flood adaptation purposes, specific public space potentialities for the application of flood adaptation measures are here identified and characterized. Overall, this research questions the specific social potentiality of public space adaptation in the processes of vulnerability tackling, namely considering the need of alternatives in current flood management practices. Through literature review and case study analysis, it is here argued that: people and communities can be perceived as more than susceptible targets and rather be professed as active agents in the process of managing urban vulnerability; that climate change literacy, through the design of a public space, may endorse an increased common need for action and the pursuit of suitable solutions; and that local know-how and locally-driven design can be considered as a service with added value for adaptation endeavors.

Based upon the case of Lisbon, this article examined the in-situ effects of vegetation upon pedestrian thermal comfort levels. Focussing specifically upon the historic quarter that often witnesses the highest T_amb values and Urban Heat Island (UHI) intensities during the summer, the most common urban canyon cases (UCCs) were modelled, along with one of the most commonly used vegetative semi-deciduous species found in the city, Tipuana tipu. Based upon a reference point (RP) system, the assessments were undertaken through the use of a new version of the SkyHelios model, local obtained G_rad values, and the modified physiologically equivalent temperature (mPET) index calculated through the human-biometeorological model RayMan. The study identified the in-situ thermo-physiological influences of Tipuana tipu during different periods of the year: (1) during the summer, which revealed considerable reductions of PET/mPET of up to 15.6 °C/11.6 °C during a very hot day (where daily maximum T_amb surpassed 35 °C); and (2) during the winter, which revealed the risks of oversharing as a result of the species keeping its foliage during the winter with reductions of PET/mPET of up to 2.7 °C/2.6 °C. Furthermore, the study utilised the climate tourism/transfer information scheme (CTIS) to categorise and facilitate the interpretation of the results.

URBAN DESIGN International is a scholarly publication with a strong practitioner emphasis. It is relevant for all of those involved in architectural and planning education and practice. It is relevant for urban designers, architects, planners, surveyors and landscape architects and all professionals concerned with urban development and design.

A “Conceptual Framework of flood adaptation measures applicable in the design of public spaces” was previously created with the objective of increasing the rate of successful flood adaptation endeavors, fulfill municipal goals for more adaptive cities and facilitate the initial brainstorming phases of a public space design process. This research aims to assess the relevance and applicability of this Conceptual Framework on the particular municipal context of Lisbon. The paper starts by demonstrating the city’s existing vulnerabilities and projected climate change scenarios, where it is possible to confirm that floods are indeed a recurrent phenomenon that will aggravate in the near and distant future. Subsequently, municipal endeavors up to the present time are analyzed with the purpose of assessing if the Conceptual Framework provides additional types of flood adaptation measures that may be considered. In a final stage, additional types of adaptation measures highlighted by the Conceptual Framework are assessed with regard to their application and infrastructural relevance. In light of the presented results, which confirm the infrastructural benefits of the additional measures proposed, new discussions emerge specifically regarding Lisbon’s municipal flood adaptation management and its relation with public space design.