From its creation to its demise, CABE fronted a national drive for better design in the built environment. It was a unique organisation (worldwide) and a full understanding of its work and impact will be of international significance. This proposal, however, goes much further. It aims to use the experience of CABE as a means to illuminate some fundamental questions about the role, nature and legitimacy of design as a public policy tool and whether, how and to what degree the state should engage in such concerns in the future. Four key lines of enquiry will be traced: o The toolbox - CABE represented an attempt, through 'active government', to address a perceived (although contested) failure of the market to recognise the importance of good design. But, given the absence of any statutory powers, CABE could be seen as the 'David' of design against the 'Goliath' of the property market. Despite this, CABE was able to deploy a range of potentially powerful tools to achieve its desired ends, including: evidence, publicity, information sharing, guidance, improvement tools, assistance, monitoring, persuading, coalition building, education, and evaluation. Each tool encompasses a complex set of endeavours and determining the relative significance, challenges and impact of such tools will provide valuable incites into the effectiveness of design governance processes and to where public policy and investment in this area should be focused in the future. o Shifting governance - CABE's work was situated within a belief that by understanding the processes of design, generic principles might be derived to optimise the performance of players. CABE itself was also embedded within wider political and governance trends, demonstrating how evaluation of design governance needs to be situated within an understanding of this wider context. Today, as this context shifts, an understanding of recent episodes of design governance will throw light on potential future models in an area of public policy to be delivered across lower tiers of government, directly by communities, and with a less direct steer from the centre. o Political context - The contemporary effort to address questions of design through public policy began in the mid-90s. This 'design agenda' prospered throughout the New Labour years, whilst in the run-up to the 2010 election the Conservatives re-committed themselves to the same goals, although not to CABE. Understanding this history, the motivations of those involved and the political consensus surrounding design, as well as it's fit within the evolving urban policy landscape will be critical to understanding the potential and likely trajectory of the design agenda in the future and how, to stay relevant, the practice of design governance will need to evolve with it. o Design problematics - As the role, influence and size of CABE grew, so did criticisms; underlining the challenging nature of public policy in this area, and how design is different from many 'big ticket' policy remits in critical ways. Today, as urban policy moves to a localism agenda, design is likely to come increasingly to the fore, although now without a strong national voice to assist in the process. Evaluating the unique public policy characteristics and problematics of design in the built environment and how they have been addressed (or not) in the recent past will be critical to understanding how design might be addressed in the age of austerity and localism as well as to understanding the wider moral / societal case for such intervention in the future. An inductive research methodology is proposed that journeys from the specifics of practice to a broad theory of design governance. Building on a completed pump-priming phase that safeguarded evidence prior to CABE's demise, a multi-dimensional impact analysis is now proposed in four stages: analytical framework; organisational interrogation; first-hand opinions; and impact & legacy analysis.

Urban areas are concentrations of vulnerability to climate change. Examples of impacts of climate change in urban areas include excessive heat, water scarcity and flooding. Whilst it is impossible to attribute individual extreme events to climate change, recent events including the 2003 heat wave that struck Paris and other European cities, and hurricane Katrina in New Orleans have illustrated the potential for large scale weather-related disruption of urban function, from which it may take months or years to recover. In recognition of the significance of climate change in urban areas, from the points of view of both adaptation and mitigation, in 2005 the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research launched a new research programme on Engineering Urban Systems . Building on the previous success of the Tyndall Centre in interdisciplinary integrated assessment, the Tyndall Centre Cities Programme brought together research expertise from seven universities (four of which are represented in the ARCADIA project) and a high profile stakeholder group to develop an Urban Integrated Assessment Facility (UIAF) that simulates long term changes in urban areas and can be used as a platform for testing the effectiveness of adaptation and mitigation strategies. The ARCADIA project will launch an ambitious new phase of development of the Tyndall Centre UIAF in order to understand better the vulnerability and resilience of urban areas. The ARCADIA project is highly interdisciplinary and involves input from an influential group of stakeholders from business and local and central government, with interests in planning, infrastructure, the built environment and climate change adaptation and mitigation. This group will work with the research team to ensure that the project is orientated towards user needs. Indeed the first research task will involve close work with stakeholders to understand how the advance modelling tools being developed in the Tyndall Centre can best inform decision making. Task 2 will identify the various direct and indirect modes in which climate impacts disrupt urban function and will go on to examine potential adaptation mechanisms and barriers to adaptation. In Task 3 the Tyndall Centre will team up with the Climatic Research Unit at UEA and the Met Office Hadley Centre to develop new probabilistic scenarios for urban areas that are consistent with UKCIP08. Task 4 will model the relationship between climate impacts and the urban economy, in order to identify how the economy may be disrupted by climate change. By analysing change in the economy through time and interactions between economic sectors, we will understand better how the urban economy can be made more resilient. Task 5 will combine the economic model developed in Task 4 with a new model of the spatial planning of buildings and infrastructure in urban areas. As well as identifying concentrations of vulnerability, this will enable the simulation of potential redesign of the built environment under different scenarios of climate and other drivers such as employment and changes to the transport system.The final research task will, working with stakeholders, use the new understanding of the vulnerability of urban systems to analyse how adaptation of urban areas can enhance resilience over a range of timescales. The objective will be to make practical proposals for 'adaptation pathways' for cities over the 21st Century to respond strategically to the challenges of flooding, water scarcity and extremes of heat.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Urban areas are concentrations of vulnerability to climate change. Examples of impacts of climate change in urban areas include excessive heat, water scarcity and flooding. Whilst it is impossible to attribute individual extreme events to climate change, recent events including the 2003 heat wave that struck Paris and other European cities, and hurricane Katrina in New Orleans have illustrated the potential for large scale weather-related disruption of urban function, from which it may take months or years to recover. In recognition of the significance of climate change in urban areas, from the points of view of both adaptation and mitigation, in 2005 the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research launched a new research programme on Engineering Urban Systems . Building on the previous success of the Tyndall Centre in interdisciplinary integrated assessment, the Tyndall Centre Cities Programme brought together research expertise from seven universities (four of which are represented in the ARCADIA project) and a high profile stakeholder group to develop an Urban Integrated Assessment Facility (UIAF) that simulates long term changes in urban areas and can be used as a platform for testing the effectiveness of adaptation and mitigation strategies. The ARCADIA project will launch an ambitious new phase of development of the Tyndall Centre UIAF in order to understand better the vulnerability and resilience of urban areas. The ARCADIA project is highly interdisciplinary and involves input from an influential group of stakeholders from business and local and central government, with interests in planning, infrastructure, the built environment and climate change adaptation and mitigation. This group will work with the research team to ensure that the project is orientated towards user needs. Indeed the first research task will involve close work with stakeholders to understand how the advance modelling tools being developed in the Tyndall Centre can best inform decision making. Task 2 will identify the various direct and indirect modes in which climate impacts disrupt urban function and will go on to examine potential adaptation mechanisms and barriers to adaptation. In Task 3 the Tyndall Centre will team up with the Climatic Research Unit at UEA and the Met Office Hadley Centre to develop new probabilistic scenarios for urban areas that are consistent with UKCIP08. Task 4 will model the relationship between climate impacts and the urban economy, in order to identify how the economy may be disrupted by climate change. By analysing change in the economy through time and interactions between economic sectors, we will understand better how the urban economy can be made more resilient. Task 5 will combine the economic model developed in Task 4 with a new model of the spatial planning of buildings and infrastructure in urban areas. As well as identifying concentrations of vulnerability, this will enable the simulation of potential redesign of the built environment under different scenarios of climate and other drivers such as employment and changes to the transport system.The final research task will, working with stakeholders, use the new understanding of the vulnerability of urban systems to analyse how adaptation of urban areas can enhance resilience over a range of timescales. The objective will be to make practical proposals for 'adaptation pathways' for cities over the 21st Century to respond strategically to the challenges of flooding, water scarcity and extremes of heat.