Climate risk information as a basis for adaptive spatial planning: A case study from Thailand

Abstract Spatial planning has an important role to play in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Particularly in growing urban regions, cities are expanding into hazard-prone areas and lack of planning is leading to increased vulnerability of people and structures and is exacerbating hazards. Gathering and understanding information about the determinants of climate risk—hazard, exposure, and vulnerability—and how physical climate and environmental changes interact with the human socioeconomic system, is an important basis for spatial planning that reduces risk. Using the case study of the Andaman Coast of Thailand, this paper provides an example of the determinants of climate risk and how they are relevant to spatial planning. The paper highlights the importance of considering not just climate-related hazards but also how human settlements are exposed and vulnerable to these hazards.