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A Conceptual and Operational

Framework for Pro-Poor Asset

Adaptation to Urban Climate Change

Caroline Moser

Th is chapter introduces a new asset-focused framework whose objective is both
analytically to understand and operationally to address the diff erent phases of
urban climate change as they impact on the lives of poor urban communities.
Th e framework builds on earlier research on asset vulnerability, asset adapta-
tion, and urban poverty reduction (see Moser 1998, 2007; Moser and Felton
2007, 2009), as well as preliminary climate change–related work (see Moser and
Satterthwaite 2008).
By way of background, the chapter briefl y reviews current approaches to
climate change adaptation. It then describes the asset adaptation framework in
terms of two components: fi rst, an asset vulnerability analytical framework that
appraises the types of socioeconomic vulnerability and groups most aff ected
by climate change–related disasters, and, second, an asset adaptation opera-
tional framework that identifi es a range of “bottom-up” climate change strate-
gies at the individual, household, and community levels. Complementing this,
it also highlights some of the “top-down” interventions of external actors such
as municipalities, civil society organizations, and the private sector. Th ese are
discussed in terms of four closely interrelated “phases” of urban climate change,
namely, long-term resilience, predisaster damage limitation, immediate

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Th is chapter draws heavily on numerous recent papers, including Moser and Satterthwaite (2008) and Simatele
(2009). I would like to express my gratitude to David Satterthwaite, Danny Simatele, Alfredo Stein, and Christine
Wamsler for their generosity in allowing me to cite from these documents and for their substantive contribution
to this chapter.