Adaptation to climate change in the private and the third sector: case study of governance of the Helsinki Metropolitan region

Cities and metropolitan regions are increasingly becoming key locations within which adaptation to climate change is taking place. New modes of governance arrangements are also emerging in cities, and these enable new actors to engage in decision making. In this paper I discuss governance of adaptation in Helsinki. On the basis of empirical data from the private and the third sector, I show how the governance of adaptation is organised within the metropolitan region and, more specifically, what policy instruments are used and what objectives these measures have. The findings suggest that whilst challenges of vertical governance of adaptation remain, there are also challenges in terms of horizontal governance of adaptation.