VIRTUAL Manchester Livable Cities
Abstract
Urban renaissance narratives privilege physical regeneration over the lived experience of existing communities (Atkinson, 2000; Lees et al., 2008). In coastal heritage districts, climate pressures, structural deterioration & socio-economic displacement converge where cultural memory & place attachment are most embedded in the built fabric (IPCC, 2022; UNESCO, 2021). Existing frameworks treat these as separate concerns, producing fragmented, reactive decision-making that consistently fails at-risk communities (Pelling, 2011; Dodman & Mitlin, 2013). This paper presents COHERE (Community Adaptive Capacity and Heritage Resilience), arguing for a holistic approach that integrates climate resilience, heritage protection & community wellbeing within a single, spatially legible framework. COHERE’s contribution lies in the Index, a threshold-based instrument combining structural condition, environmental quality, psychosocial wellbeing, spatial connectivity and community-valued heritage, enabling policymakers to detect liveability erosion and act before irreversible displacement occurs (Archer et al., 2014; UNDRR & ICCROM, 2022). The deliberate selection of three coastal zones: Old Portsmouth (UK), Scheveningen (Netherlands) and Manshia (Egypt), is central to COHERE’s argument. Spanning Global North and South, these sites represent structurally distinct trajectories of climate exposure, governance capacity and displacement pressure. This cross-national design exposes the inadequacy of Eurocentric resilience frameworks and foregrounds contexts where adaptive resources are most constrained & heritage communities most vulnerable (Miraftab, 2009; Mitlin & Satterthwaite, 2004; Gehl, 2010). Outputs include an interactive platform, participatory design game & contextualisation toolkit, designed for policy innovation. COHERE reframes coastal adaptation as spatial justice, delivering a replicable instrument that resists the erasure of living heritage in the name of urban renaissance.
Eiman Elbanhawy is Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Technology at the University of Portsmouth. Her research spans urban resilience, mobility justice, coastal heritage and smart cities, with a sustained focus on Global South contexts and community-centred methodologies. She is active in grant capture, leading internationally collaborative research bids across the UK, Netherlands and Egypt, and developing partnerships with universities and non-academic organisations across the Global South. Her work bridges spatial diagnostics, participatory design and policy translation.
Nancy Abd El-Moneim: Archer, D. et al. (2014) ‘Moving towards inclusive urban adaptation’, Environment and Urbanization, 26(2), pp. 535–550. Atkinson, R. (2000) ‘The hidden costs of gentrification’, Urban Studies, 37(12), pp. 2145–2162. Dodman, D. and Mitlin, D. (2013) ‘Challenges for community-based adaptation’, Journal of International Development, 25(5), pp. 640–659. Gehl, J. (2010) Cities for People. Washington DC: Island Press. IPCC (2022) Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Sixth Assessment Report. Geneva: IPCC. Lees, L., Slater, T. and Wyly, E. (2008) Gentrification. New York: Routledge. Miraftab, F. (2009) ‘Insurgent planning’, Planning Theory, 8(1), pp. 32–50. Mitlin, D. and Satterthwaite, D. (2004) Empowering Squatter Citizen. London: Earthscan. Pelling, M. (2011) Adaptation to Climate Change: From Resilience to Transformation. London: Routledge. UN-Habitat (2020) Urban Gaming for Climate Resilience. Nairobi: UN-Habitat. UNESCO (2021) Climate Change and World Heritage. Paris: UNESCO World Heritage Centre. UNDRR and ICCROM (2022) Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Cities — Cultural Heritage Addendum. Geneva: UNDRR.
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Thursday 18th June, 2026