Co-producing climate information improves Great Lakes cities' adaptation to climate change, but how can these partnerships be sustained long-term? One successful model, according to a Gala learning case, is through the Great Lakes Climate Adaptation Network (GLCAN), which has linked a number of organizations together to provide Great Lakes cities with the information they need to adapt. Gala is an online platform developed by Michigan Sustainability Cases that provides open-access learning tools for sustainability science.

As part of the case, authors created a common “Vulnerability Assessment” template that combines climate and socioeconomic data to help communities identify vulnerable populations and infrastructure. By sharing lessons learned and emerging questions, this case provides insights into the organizational structures that can help connect producers of environmental information with those who need the information to make decisions and better plan for the future.

The case was co-authored by SEAS PhD graduate Dr. Katherine Browne, who recently joined the Stockholm Environment Institute; Dr. Maria Lemos, co-director of the Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessment Project; Kumar Jensen, chief sustainability and resilience officer for Evanston, Illinois; and Jeff Meek, former project manager in the Office of Sustainability for Indianapolis, Indiana (now the sustainability coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Transportation).

Read the case study

Michigan Sustainability Cases

Interactive Diagram: How organizations collaborated to develop a template to assess climate vulnerability in Great Lakes cities

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