Sirkku Juhola
Biographic Data
| ID | 1414030 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sirkku Juhola |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sirkku |
| FAMILY NAME | Juhola |
| SIGNATURE | JUHOLA S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Helsinki |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0095-2282 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 39 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 201 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 39 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Ten new insights in climate science 2025
Non-Technical Summary This review highlights 10 recent advances in climate change research with high policy relevance, spanning diverse topics: (1) the global temperature jump of 2023–2024; (2) sea surface warming and marine heatwaves; (3) land carbon sinks; (4) interactions between climate change and biodiversity loss; (5) accelerated groundwater decline; (6) global dengue incidence; (7) income and labour productivity loss; (8) strategic conside…
Critical assessment on digital twins implementation for flood risk management and governance
A framework is built for assessing the DTs’ implementation for flood management. • DTs development for flood risk management (FRM) and governance (FRG) is nascent. • Current DTs implementation in FRM is an extension of the traditional control paradigm. • There is a lack of attention on the DTs implementation for FRG. • A DTs integrated human-nature system could support policy and decision-making
Framing justice in urban climate adaptation policy in 14 frontrunner cities
Increasingly critical focus is being placed on how urban adaptation policies approach issues of justice. Adaptation has been shown to exacerbate existing inequities or create new ones. Framings of justice issues in adaptation policies affect what representations are ultimately translated into practice. This study contributes to the field of adaptation justice by offering a critical look into the way proposed frontrunner cities approach justice is…
Identifying constraints and limits to adaptation to climate-related risks in the Peruvian Andes
Constraints within socio-ecological systems provide formidable challenges to address climate change through adaptation and risk management, and have the potential to drive a system to an adaptation limit. Understanding adaptation limits is crucial for assessing society's capacity to adapt and avoiding significant losses and damages. However, there is limited empirical research on limits to adaptation. We present a practical approach on how to ide…
The prefigurative politics of enactable sustainability transformations in the present
The concept of “prefigurative politics” invites geographers to envision transformative change through a shift in practices stemming from a micro level. This article examines and substantiates how this idea is mobilised in relation to current sustainability transformations. A large interdisciplinary group of geographers and transition scholars present topic clusters of prefigurative enablers that instigate and catalyse the enactment of transformat…
Justice for Resilient Development in Climate-Stressed Cities
Climate impacts and risk, within and across cities, are distributed highly unequally. Cities located in low latitudes are more vulnerable to climate risk and impacts than in high latitudes, due to the large proportion of informal settlements relative to the housing stock and more frequent extremes. According to EM-DAT, about 60% of environmental disasters in cities relate to riverine floods. Riverine floods and heatwaves cause about 33% of deaths…
Making sense of response
There is a gap in understanding how different policies affect climate vulnerability and risk development, yet increasingly response is added to the risk framework. We propose a conceptual framework that explains how response and other policies affect risk determinants and demonstrate the application of the framework using a synthesis of empirical literature on climate-related health risks and adaptation in cities. The analysis shows that most of …
Adaptive governance of disaster preparedness? The case of regional networks in Finland
Adaptive governance (AG) has emerged as a theoretical alternative to traditional forms of governance, which often fail to address complexity and rapid changes in socioecological systems. Frequently recognized attributes of AG include learning and experimentation, collaboration and networks, polycentric institutions and multilevel governance at multiple appropriate scales, as well as reflexivity, flexibility and adaptive capacity. To provide more …
The role of governance in limits to adaptation
There is a concern that limits to adaptation may be reached, meaning that adaptation to climate change is no longer possible. Limits in ecological systems indicate a collapse of that system, while in social systems, this may mean reorienting livelihoods or retreating from locations under threat. The role of governance with regard to limits has been largely unexplored so far. In this commentary, we examine limits from the perspective of governance…
Knowledge brokering at the environmental science-policy interface — examining structure and activity
The environmental science-policy interface, consisting of dynamic interactions between various actors, is increasingly an object of study. In this interface, new types and kinds of boundary organisations are emerging and new types of knowledge brokering are taking place. Given the increasing calls for more evidence-based policy, it is pertinent to examine what type of SPI can be identified at the national level, how knowledge is brokered in it an…
Policy impact pathways of climate-related urban health vulnerability – A retrospective analysis
Climate change-related health risks are likely to become more prevalent in cities. Cities are also key actors in adaptation to these risks. Adaptation can take place through intentional measures to reduce vulnerability or exposure and unintentionally through other urban policy processes and outcomes. However, complex and dynamic relations between urban policy impacts and vulnerability development are an understudied phenomena. This limits the und…
A new dynamic framework is required to assess adaptation limits
Anthropogenic climate change is already causing dangerous and widespread disruptions in global ecological and social systems and affects the lives of billions of people around the world. Even with scaled-up risk management and adaptation, the limits of adaptation will often be reached. Currently, very little is known about the degree to which societies can adapt to climate change, and where and when limits to adaptation will be reached. In this p…
Exploring the affective dimension in citizen science to support urban climate adaptation
Despite the urgent need to take action on climate adaptation, public engagement remains relatively low. This low engagement poses significant challenges to the effective adaptation process, highlighting the need for innovative approaches in governance. In this paper, we explore the importance of the affective dimension in enhancing citizen engagement in climate adaptation. Drawing from a review of recent literature, we identify the primary challe…
Ambient air pollution-related environmental inequality and environmental dissimilarity in Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland
Most studies suggest that people with lower socio-economic status (SES) are exposed to higher air pollution levels. Research from Europe, on the other hand, have shown mixed results, often indicating non-linear patterns, necessitating a better understanding of the context-specific manifestation of the relationship between SES and air pollution. The results of our generalized additive model show that median income of inhabitants has an inverted U-…
Connecting climate justice and adaptation planning
Considerations of justice with regards to climate change adaptation are increasingly called for in the academic literature, but little attention has been paid to the dimensions of justice regarding the development of adaptation policy and instruments used. Thus, there is a gap when it comes to connecting the dimensions of justice to different types of adaptation strategies and plans. Here, we synthesise the findings of previous studies to create …
Governance and everyday adaptations? Examining the disconnect between planned and autonomous adaptation through justice outcomes
Much of the current attention in research has focused on planned adaptation, i.e., public policy, but this overlooks the fact that human and societal responses to changes in the climate are ubiquitous. Thus, autonomous adaptation, the so-called everyday adaptation, continues to be largely unaccounted for. This obscures the understanding to what extent autonomous and planned adaptation are synergistic or conflicting, resulting in maladaptive, unju…
The influence of socioeconomic factors on storm preparedness and experienced impacts in Finland
Extreme weather events, such as storms, may cause material damage, injuries, and interfere with day-to-day operation of societies. Earlier research on natural hazards and climate change adaptation has found that demographic and socioeconomic factors influence the way individuals prepare for and are affected by natural hazards. However, research often focuses on areas with high exposure and vulnerability and research on low exposure and vulnerabil…
Governing urban sustainability transitions
There is an increasing need for urban sustainability transitions, though empirical cases that focus on the governance of these processes over time are not plentiful. This study addresses that gap by examining the governance of an urban transition in an eco-neighbourhood in Helsinki, using the framework of a multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions and modes of governance. This study shows how the modes of governance have changed fro…
The old and the climate adaptation
Assessing the dynamics of urban vulnerability to climate change
Future climate risk is not only dependent on future climatic changes but also on how exposure and vulnerability develop in the future. There is a gap in understanding what drives future climate vulnerability, and how to account for its spatial emergence. This issue is particularly pertinent for cities due to the concentration of assets and population at risk, and rapid socio-economic and land use changes. We develop a mixed methods approach, whic…
Supporting Dialogue and Analysis on Trade-Offs in Climate Adaptation Research With the Maladaptation Game
Background. Serious games are gaining increasing prominence in environmental communication research, but their potential to form an integrated part of participatory research approaches is still strikingly understudied. This is particularly the case for applications of interactive digital formats in research on environmental challenges of high complexity, such as climate adaptation, which is a specifically suitable case as it involves complex inte…
Configurations of community in flood risk management
Despite a notable increase in the literature on community resilience, the notion of ‘community’ remains underproblematised. This is evident within flood risk management (FRM) literature, in which the understanding and roles of communities may be acknowledged but seldom discussed in any detail. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate how community networks are configured by different actors, whose roles and responsibilities span spatial scale…
Integrated framework for identifying transformative adaptation in agri-food systems
Science for Loss and Damage. Findings and Propositions
The debate on “Loss and Damage” (L&D) has gained traction over the last few years. Supported by growing scientific evidence of anthropogenic climate change amplifying frequency, intensity and duration of climate-related hazards as well as observed increases in climate-related impacts and risks in many regions, the “Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage” was established in 2013 and further supported through the Paris Agreement in 2015…
Responsibility for climate change adaptation
As a policy process, climate change adaptation is rapidly advancing. Yet fundamental questions remain unanswered including, who is responsible for planned adaptation and when, who is liable for losses and damages resulting from climate change and how is responsibility distributed in a multilevel governance system? Responsibility can be evaluated in terms of the timing of particular events, the specific societal actors involved and the rules and n…
Redefining maladaptation
Connecting climate justice and adaptation planning
Considerations of justice with regards to climate change adaptation are increasingly called for in the academic literature, but little attention has been paid to the dimensions of justice regarding the development of adaptation policy and instruments used. Thus, there is a gap when it comes to connecting the dimensions of justice to different types of adaptation strategies and plans. Here, we synthesise the findings of previous studies to create …
Adaptive climate change governance for urban resilience
Climate change poses new challenges to cities and new flexible forms of governance are required that are able to take into account the uncertainty and abruptness of changes. The purpose of this paper is to discuss adaptive climate change governance for urban resilience. This paper identifies and reviews three traditions of literature on the idea of transitions and transformations, and assesses to what extent the transitions encompass elements of …
Environmentalities of urban climate governance in Maputo, Mozambique
Challenges of adaptation to climate change across multiple scales
The role of the private sector and citizens in urban climate change adaptation
Expectations of cooperation between local authorities, the private sector, and citizens in climate change adaptation in cities are high because involvement of many actors is seen as critical to success. Scholars and policymakers argue that the private sector could be more efficient than the public authorities in implementing adaptation measures and argue for the need to engage citizens to ensure legitimacy of adaptation and inclusion of locally r…
A framework for Nordic actor-oriented climate adaptation research
Climate change transformations in Nordic agriculture
The Influence of Administrative Traditions and Governance on Private Involvement in Urban Climate Change Adaptation
This qualitative study examines how administrative traditions and governance in two cities, New York City and Helsinki, have affected the interplay of public administration, the private sector, and citizens in climate change adaptation. The results show that both cities aim for an increased state-market-civil society interaction. However, their efforts have different points of departure and follow different trajectories. New York City's administr…
Understanding the framings of climate change adaptation across multiple scales of governance in Europe
Climate change adaptation strategies are emerging across Europe as societies attempt to adapt to the challenges of a changing environment. Social constructivist analyses of environmental policy – especially those emphasising ‘framing’ – can be very useful in teasing out the framings of policy problems such as adaptation. They can also shed light on the underlying assumptions that steer and guide public and environmental policy. Using the theoreti…
Knowledge brokering at the environmental science-policy interface — examining structure and activity
The environmental science-policy interface, consisting of dynamic interactions between various actors, is increasingly an object of study. In this interface, new types and kinds of boundary organisations are emerging and new types of knowledge brokering are taking place. Given the increasing calls for more evidence-based policy, it is pertinent to examine what type of SPI can be identified at the national level, how knowledge is brokered in it an…
Assessing the dynamics of urban vulnerability to climate change
Future climate risk is not only dependent on future climatic changes but also on how exposure and vulnerability develop in the future. There is a gap in understanding what drives future climate vulnerability, and how to account for its spatial emergence. This issue is particularly pertinent for cities due to the concentration of assets and population at risk, and rapid socio-economic and land use changes. We develop a mixed methods approach, whic…
A new dynamic framework is required to assess adaptation limits
Anthropogenic climate change is already causing dangerous and widespread disruptions in global ecological and social systems and affects the lives of billions of people around the world. Even with scaled-up risk management and adaptation, the limits of adaptation will often be reached. Currently, very little is known about the degree to which societies can adapt to climate change, and where and when limits to adaptation will be reached. In this p…
Analyzing Redd+ as an experiment of transformative climate governance
Continue to blame it on the rain? Conceptualization of drought and failure of food systems in the Greater Horn of Africa
Food insecurity continues to be prevalent in parts of Africa. In December 2015, there were approximately 21.6 million food insecure people in the Horn and East Africa. Climate change is likely to exacerbate current volatility of agricultural production and lead to further food insecurity. Whilst the academic literature has acknowledged the complexity of food insecurity and systems, it is not clear to what extent this has been translated into prac…
Governance and everyday adaptations? Examining the disconnect between planned and autonomous adaptation through justice outcomes
Much of the current attention in research has focused on planned adaptation, i.e., public policy, but this overlooks the fact that human and societal responses to changes in the climate are ubiquitous. Thus, autonomous adaptation, the so-called everyday adaptation, continues to be largely unaccounted for. This obscures the understanding to what extent autonomous and planned adaptation are synergistic or conflicting, resulting in maladaptive, unju…
Ambient air pollution-related environmental inequality and environmental dissimilarity in Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland
Most studies suggest that people with lower socio-economic status (SES) are exposed to higher air pollution levels. Research from Europe, on the other hand, have shown mixed results, often indicating non-linear patterns, necessitating a better understanding of the context-specific manifestation of the relationship between SES and air pollution. The results of our generalized additive model show that median income of inhabitants has an inverted U-…
Integrated framework for identifying transformative adaptation in agri-food systems
Responsibility for climate change adaptation
As a policy process, climate change adaptation is rapidly advancing. Yet fundamental questions remain unanswered including, who is responsible for planned adaptation and when, who is liable for losses and damages resulting from climate change and how is responsibility distributed in a multilevel governance system? Responsibility can be evaluated in terms of the timing of particular events, the specific societal actors involved and the rules and n…
Local authorities and the engagement of private actors in climate change adaptation
The local level and private actors play an important role in the implementation of climate change adaptation. The engagement of the private sector and citizens has received increasing attention in recent years. Local authorities' choice of policy instruments, the distribution of responsibilities and the benefits of adaptation as a public or a private good have a bearing on the involvement of private actors. Based on interviews and documents from …
National Future Earth platforms as boundary organizations contributing to solutions-oriented global change research
Challenges of adaptation to climate change across multiple scales
Understanding the framings of climate change adaptation across multiple scales of governance in Europe
Climate change adaptation strategies are emerging across Europe as societies attempt to adapt to the challenges of a changing environment. Social constructivist analyses of environmental policy – especially those emphasising ‘framing’ – can be very useful in teasing out the framings of policy problems such as adaptation. They can also shed light on the underlying assumptions that steer and guide public and environmental policy. Using the theoreti…
A framework for Nordic actor-oriented climate adaptation research
Environmentalities of urban climate governance in Maputo, Mozambique
Redefining maladaptation
Adaptive climate change governance for urban resilience
Climate change poses new challenges to cities and new flexible forms of governance are required that are able to take into account the uncertainty and abruptness of changes. The purpose of this paper is to discuss adaptive climate change governance for urban resilience. This paper identifies and reviews three traditions of literature on the idea of transitions and transformations, and assesses to what extent the transitions encompass elements of …
Local authorities and the engagement of private actors in climate change adaptation
The local level and private actors play an important role in the implementation of climate change adaptation. The engagement of the private sector and citizens has received increasing attention in recent years. Local authorities' choice of policy instruments, the distribution of responsibilities and the benefits of adaptation as a public or a private good have a bearing on the involvement of private actors. Based on interviews and documents from …
Continue to blame it on the rain? Conceptualization of drought and failure of food systems in the Greater Horn of Africa
Food insecurity continues to be prevalent in parts of Africa. In December 2015, there were approximately 21.6 million food insecure people in the Horn and East Africa. Climate change is likely to exacerbate current volatility of agricultural production and lead to further food insecurity. Whilst the academic literature has acknowledged the complexity of food insecurity and systems, it is not clear to what extent this has been translated into prac…
National Future Earth platforms as boundary organizations contributing to solutions-oriented global change research
Analyzing Redd+ as an experiment of transformative climate governance
Climate change transformations in Nordic agriculture
The role of renewable energy policies for carbon neutrality in Helsinki Metropolitan area
The role of the private sector and citizens in urban climate change adaptation
Expectations of cooperation between local authorities, the private sector, and citizens in climate change adaptation in cities are high because involvement of many actors is seen as critical to success. Scholars and policymakers argue that the private sector could be more efficient than the public authorities in implementing adaptation measures and argue for the need to engage citizens to ensure legitimacy of adaptation and inclusion of locally r…
The Influence of Administrative Traditions and Governance on Private Involvement in Urban Climate Change Adaptation
This qualitative study examines how administrative traditions and governance in two cities, New York City and Helsinki, have affected the interplay of public administration, the private sector, and citizens in climate change adaptation. The results show that both cities aim for an increased state-market-civil society interaction. However, their efforts have different points of departure and follow different trajectories. New York City's administr…
Science for Loss and Damage. Findings and Propositions
The debate on “Loss and Damage” (L&D) has gained traction over the last few years. Supported by growing scientific evidence of anthropogenic climate change amplifying frequency, intensity and duration of climate-related hazards as well as observed increases in climate-related impacts and risks in many regions, the “Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage” was established in 2013 and further supported through the Paris Agreement in 2015…
Responsibility for climate change adaptation
As a policy process, climate change adaptation is rapidly advancing. Yet fundamental questions remain unanswered including, who is responsible for planned adaptation and when, who is liable for losses and damages resulting from climate change and how is responsibility distributed in a multilevel governance system? Responsibility can be evaluated in terms of the timing of particular events, the specific societal actors involved and the rules and n…
Supporting Dialogue and Analysis on Trade-Offs in Climate Adaptation Research With the Maladaptation Game
Background. Serious games are gaining increasing prominence in environmental communication research, but their potential to form an integrated part of participatory research approaches is still strikingly understudied. This is particularly the case for applications of interactive digital formats in research on environmental challenges of high complexity, such as climate adaptation, which is a specifically suitable case as it involves complex inte…
Configurations of community in flood risk management
Despite a notable increase in the literature on community resilience, the notion of ‘community’ remains underproblematised. This is evident within flood risk management (FRM) literature, in which the understanding and roles of communities may be acknowledged but seldom discussed in any detail. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate how community networks are configured by different actors, whose roles and responsibilities span spatial scale…
Integrated framework for identifying transformative adaptation in agri-food systems
The influence of socioeconomic factors on storm preparedness and experienced impacts in Finland
Extreme weather events, such as storms, may cause material damage, injuries, and interfere with day-to-day operation of societies. Earlier research on natural hazards and climate change adaptation has found that demographic and socioeconomic factors influence the way individuals prepare for and are affected by natural hazards. However, research often focuses on areas with high exposure and vulnerability and research on low exposure and vulnerabil…
Governing urban sustainability transitions
There is an increasing need for urban sustainability transitions, though empirical cases that focus on the governance of these processes over time are not plentiful. This study addresses that gap by examining the governance of an urban transition in an eco-neighbourhood in Helsinki, using the framework of a multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions and modes of governance. This study shows how the modes of governance have changed fro…
The old and the climate adaptation
Assessing the dynamics of urban vulnerability to climate change
Future climate risk is not only dependent on future climatic changes but also on how exposure and vulnerability develop in the future. There is a gap in understanding what drives future climate vulnerability, and how to account for its spatial emergence. This issue is particularly pertinent for cities due to the concentration of assets and population at risk, and rapid socio-economic and land use changes. We develop a mixed methods approach, whic…
Connecting climate justice and adaptation planning
Considerations of justice with regards to climate change adaptation are increasingly called for in the academic literature, but little attention has been paid to the dimensions of justice regarding the development of adaptation policy and instruments used. Thus, there is a gap when it comes to connecting the dimensions of justice to different types of adaptation strategies and plans. Here, we synthesise the findings of previous studies to create …
Governance and everyday adaptations? Examining the disconnect between planned and autonomous adaptation through justice outcomes
Much of the current attention in research has focused on planned adaptation, i.e., public policy, but this overlooks the fact that human and societal responses to changes in the climate are ubiquitous. Thus, autonomous adaptation, the so-called everyday adaptation, continues to be largely unaccounted for. This obscures the understanding to what extent autonomous and planned adaptation are synergistic or conflicting, resulting in maladaptive, unju…
Political science (28 works) · Climate change (22 works) · Economics (21 works) · Sociology (21 works) · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance (21 works) · Business (20 works) · Environmental resource management (20 works) · Geography (20 works) · Psychology (16 works) · Computer Science (15 works)