Local Government, adaptation and social media: Project with the City of Birmingham Laura Wilkes, Policy Manager, LGiU 13 September 2011
May 09, 2015
Local Government, adaptation and social
media: Project with the City of Birmingham
Laura Wilkes, Policy Manager, LGiU
13 September 2011
Big Society and Adaptation
• LGiU completed a project to examine new ways to deliver adaptation with greater community involvement.
• A Big Society approach to adaptation can be taken forward through: decentralisation, transparency, finance and philanthropy.
• Many opportunities for community involvement in design and delivery of adaptation initiatives – for example, through use of social media
• Councils can’t do adaptation alone
Adaptation and Social Media: where did the idea
originate?• ICLEI Resilient Cities
Conference, Bonn, 2011
• Discussions on social media but no ideas on how to use it strategically
• Convened a group to discuss how to take a project forward
• LinkedIn group: Social Media and Adaptation
Project with Birmingham City Council
• Project between Birmingham City Council and LGiU to examine how social media can be used in the city to develop adaptation to climate change
• Mapped the elements of adaptation as a starting point
Elements of Adaptation
Social media and Emergency Response: The UK Riots
Learning: Use of social media and community resilience in the
Birmingham riots • Emergency response: Role of citizen
journalists in spreading information/countering misinformation, hyper-local blogging,
• Local Leadership: councillor responses and calls for calm
• Recovery: fundraising online to support looted shops, Twitter used to coordinate #riotcleanup
• Prevention: reporting on measured taken to protect shops
Anticipated outcomes:• Toolkit – concentrating on each
aspect of the adaptation cycle• Practical tools and technology to
share worldwideAnticipated challenges:• Capacity – within the community and
local authorities• Funding • Language and policy framing
Next Steps
• Join our discussion: LinkedIn
• Join the project
• Sources of funding