A view on climate services

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A VIEW ON

CLIMATE

SERVICES

Exploring the developmental processes of climate services and the role that considerations on visual communication play within these

LAURA VAN KRUIJL

Master’s Thesis for the Spatial Planning Programme, specialisation Cities, Water and Climate Change Nijmegen School of Management

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Page | 1 Laura van Kruijl S4506448

Den Bosch, December 2020

A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the Nijmegen School of Management, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment. This research project was carried out at Deltares.

Supervisor Radboud Universiteit: Supervisor Deltares:

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5.3.1 Development ... 44 5.3.2 The Visual ... 46 5.3.3 Respondents ... 48 5.3.4 Background documents ... 49 5.3.5 Discourses ... 50 5.4 PLOTMODEL LAREN ... 52 5.4.1 Development ... 52 5.4.2 The Visual ... 53 5.4.3 Respondents ... 54 5.4.4 Background documents ... 56 5.4.5 Discourses ... 56 CHAPTER 6: COMPARISON ... 58

6.2 SHORT SUMMARIES OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FINDINGS ... 58

6.3 COMPARISON ... 59

CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION ... 63

7.1 SUB-QUESTIONS ... 63

7.2 MAIN QUESTION ... 65

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8.1 DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS ... 67

8.2 DISCUSSION OF THE RESEARCH ... 68

8.3 RECOMMENDATIONS... 69

REFERENCES ... 71 APPENDICES ... Fout! Bladwijzer niet gedefinieerd. APPENDIX I: INTERVIEW GUIDE ... Fout! Bladwijzer niet gedefinieerd. APPENDIX II: CODING SCHEME ... Fout! Bladwijzer niet gedefinieerd.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Before you lies the final product of many months of research, data collection, writing and editing. I owe many people a whole-hearted thanks. Without their support the completion of this thesis would not have been possible.

First, I would like to thank my thesis supervisor Kevin Raaphorst on who I could rely to provide my work with valuable feedback and who often provided me with incredibly helpful insights whenever I would be stuck on my conceptual model, my interview questions, my analysis, or many other aspects of this thesis.

Second, I would like to thank my internship supervisor Gerald Jan Ellen who was incredibly resourceful during these months in which physical supervision was not possible. Not only was he able to adjust his supervision really well, he also knew how to still involve my peer-intern and myself into the various (professional) activities going on within Deltares.

Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude to all of the respondents. Their input was essential in the completion of this thesis and I am very thankful for the time they set aside for the interview and for the input they provided me with.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

There is a clear need for climate adaptation across the globe. The Dutch government developed the ‘Delta Programme’ which contains five so-called ‘Delta Decisions’. One of these Delta Decisions is called the ‘Delta Decision on Spatial Adaptation’ and focusses on climate-related issues such as flooding, droughts and heat. This Delta Decision should help guide the Netherlands towards being climate proof and water resilient in 2050.

To help guide this assignment, several climate services have been developed. Climate services can be described as services that provide decision-makers with climate-related information especially in the context of climate adaptation. The problem, however, lies in the interaction between developers of these climate services and end-users. It seems that more often than not, climate services are not fully tailored to end-users wishes, needs, frameworks and existing knowledge.

Since climate services are often highly visual tools (climate information will often be communicated through maps, charts, or pictures), and the visual is not something that has been researched extensively, the following research question has been proposed:

To what extent are climate services developed from a visual communication perspective? In order to answer this question, multiple cases were selected (the cases being climate services) and various developers of these climate services were interviewed on the topic of development and visual communication. A total of nine in-depth interviews were ultimately conducted across four cases. Three of these cases are web-based nationally available tools, whilst the last one is a local tool that is specifically developed to only service a select group of people. On the basis of the transcripts of the interviews, as well as on the basis of various background documents belonging to these climate services, a discourse analysis was

conducted.

Various discourses were distilled from these transcripts and background documents. A couple of elements stood out across some or multiple climate services. Across the board, there seemed to be a lack in user interaction. This could range from users not being invited into the design and development process enough, to actually overriding user wishes. In most cases, users were actually invited to collaborate but not in all cases this was sufficient for a proper tailoring of climate information to user needs. It also seemed that whilst a couple of developers from various cases had put effort into making the tool accessible or user-friendly, there were also cases that were rather technical in nature and would

therefore be difficult to use or read. Certain tools were also rather authoritative or political in nature. Certain data sources, for example, were portrayed as being authoritarian and the political agenda could play a role in the development of the climate service. Moreover, it was concluded that many of the developers stem from the same type of epistemic community, meaning that the possibly exists that there is a supply of a certain type of knowledge.

It was concluded that while overall an effort had been employed to create readable or some strides could still be made when it comes to creating usable climate information and climate services. Users had not been invited to collaborate into the developmental process enough and in many ways, tools had been primarily developed from a developers’ perspective.

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH

1.1 NEED FOR CLIMATE ADAPTATION AND POLICY CONTEXT

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues in contemporary society and increasingly, people will have to deal with the effects of climate change. Our wellbeing and welfare will be tied to the extent to which we manage to deal with the risks associated to climate change (Vaughan et al., 2014). Efforts have been in progress to reduce greenhouse gasses on a global level, as well as on the local level, thereby reducing the probability of

catastrophic events (Kahn, 2016). Urgency to act on climate change is therefore critical. Acting on climate change does not only entail climate mitigation, but also adapting to face certain impacts of climate change.

1.1.1 Delta programme

That there is a need for climate adaptation is clear, especially for the Netherlands, since the country is situated in a delta and is therefore quite vulnerable to floods. The flood of 1953 led to the creation of different measures of flood protection, but due to changing climate conditions (the rise in sea level, an increase in extreme weather conditions), certain measures had to be revised or renewed. The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management published the first ‘Delta Programme’ [Deltaprogramma] in 2010 and a new Delta Programme has been published every year since. The Delta Programme is a

programme that should help realise several national adaptation and water-related goals, such as protection against floods, draughts, and climate adaptation (Rijkswaterstaat, n.d.). The programme should aid the effort towards making the Netherlands climate proof and water resilient in 2050 (Deltacommissaris, n.d., a). In order to reach these goals, the Dutch government is working alongside other governments, organisations and civil society.

Five ‘Delta Decisions’ [deltabeslissingen] have been proposed in order to provide certain elements of the Delta programme with the appropriate framework. One of these ‘decisions’ is called the ‘Delta Decision on Spatial Adaptation’ [deltabelissing ruimtelijke adaptatie] (Deltacommissaris, n.d., a). This decision focuses on climate-related issues such as flooding, droughts, and heat. These issues relate directly to risks in terms of the

economy, national health and safety (Deltacommissaris, n.d., b). The ‘Delta Decision on Spatial Adaptation’ impels different authorities (State, provinces, municipalities and water boards) to work towards the Netherlands being climate proof and water resilient in 2050 (Kennisportaal ruimtelijke adaptatie, n.d., a). Seven ambitions have been voiced in order to reach this potential: (1) mapping out vulnerabilities; (2) conducting a dialogue on risk and drawing up a strategy; (3) drawing up an implementation agenda; (4) capitalising on linkage opportunities; (5) regulating and embedding; (6) promoting and facilitating; (7) responding to disasters (Deltacommissaris, n.d., b). It differs per local government which ambitions have already been completed. Most of the local authorities had mapped out their vulnerabilities by the end of 2019, and many have reached the phase of conducting a risk dialogue

(Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Waterstaat, 2019).

The risk dialogues will revolve around four themes: (1) nature; (2) agriculture; (3) heat and health; and (4) the built environment. Risk dialogues will be conducted when there is the possibility of an urgent climate-related risk, and adaptation measures have not yet been identified or been implemented (Kennisportaal ruimtelijke adaptatie, b). It is expected that both public and private parties will participate in the risk dialogues and that these

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parties will take their own responsibility in climate adaptation (Kennisportaal ruimtelijke adaptatie, b).

1.2 RESEARCH PROBLEM STATEMENT 1.2.1 Usability gap in climate services

As mentioned above, the (built) environment will have to become more resilient and sustainable. Climate services are being developed to help reach this goal (amongst others). Climate services have been defined in multiple ways, originally by the WMO (World

Meteorological Organization) as the “provision of one or more climate products or advice in such a way as to assist decision-making by individuals or organizations” (Swart et al., 2017, pg. 12). Street (2016), offered a similar definition: “Climate services […] include data, information and knowledge that support adaptation, mitigation and disaster risk management” (pg. 3). Vaughan et al. (2014) proposed quite an elaborate definition: “Climate services involve the generation, provision, and contextualization of information and knowledge derived from climate research for decision making at all levels of society. These services are mainly targeted at informing adaptation to climate variability and change, widely recognized as an important challenge for sustainable development”

(Vaughan et al., 2014, pg. 588). It seems that all these definitions have in common the goal of informing or assisting certain actors in decision-making in the context of climate

adaptation. To accomplish this goal of providing climate information for decision-making actors, climate services are usually comprised of visuals such as maps, graphs, pictures, or other visual modes. Whether the climate service proves to be communicatively successful depends on the visual mode and its channel of communication in relation to its targeted audience (Raaphorst et al., 2020).

Climate services have gained attention in recent years and have become a focus of international coordination activities (Buontempo et al., 2014). This attention is reflected in multiple ways, such as the implementation of the Global Framework for Climate services, the rise of climate service providers (Vaughan et al., 2014) or the establishment of the Expert Group by the European Commission. This commission is tasked with the

development of a framework for action that would create a “strong and flourishing climate service sector across Europe” (Street, 2016, pg. 2). It is, however, evident that multiple challenges are faced as well when it comes to certain aspects of the use of climate services. Vaughan et al. (2014) explain that, while there is growing attention, little is known about the relative effectiveness of the climate services. Lourenςo et al. (2016), in addition, state that: “there are still plenty of questions left about what climate services actually constitute, who their users are, how they relate to research, and what their value is for innovation,

economic growth and development” (pg. 13). Furthermore, it seems there is often a

disconnect between the providers of climate services and the end-users, making the climate services less effective (Vaughan et al., 2014; Lúcio et al., 2016).

This disconnect or gap could result from a myriad of things. The gap often results, for example, from a lack of dialogue between providers and users of climate services (Lúcio et al., 2016; Goosen et al., 2014), and is also commonly due to climate services not being focused on the implementation phase(s) of climate adaptation policy. A conceptual model on the categorisation of climate services was constructed by Hamaker et al. (2017), which does show that this should not be the case and that these phases should be taken into consideration. Raaphorst et al. (2020) mention that, according to the model, a climate service can be “interpreted as the sum of climate information (often modelling output), the

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actual service, and the response (a plan and climate adaptive action)” (p. 2). The case is, however, that climate services are often not geared towards helping the end-user with their response (i.e., the implementation of climate adaptation policy). On the contrary, climate services often do not have a particular audience in mind or a goal that the target audience could achieve by using the climate service in question (Raaphorst et al., 2020).

The lack in dialogue and of goal-oriented climate services could lead to the users not understanding or being able to (visually) interpret the climate information embedded in the tools. O’Neill et al. (2014) note that an “increased desire to visualize climate features” (p. 82) has come with the rise in climate science projections. The visualisations of these projections however, have often been highly technical and in order for a user to engage with these projections, specialized knowledge would be required (O’Neill et al., 2014). There seems to be a theme of technically difficult climate services in the literature. It has been noted, for instance, that the technical information embedded in the climate service makes it difficult for decision-makers (or non-experts) to interpret the climate information (Vaughan et al., 2014). Also, it seems that the climate information is often not translated to the local level (i.e., how the local level could be impacted) (Goosen et al., 2014), meaning that the overall visuals are not tailored to the intended audience.

Due to this disconnect in information, climate change may be perceived by stakeholders and decision-makers to be something that is solved somewhere else rather than at the local level (Goosen et al., 2014; Raaphorst et al., 2020). It is essential that

climate services are tailored to the needs of end-users, since that will increase the uptake of climate knowledge, and it will be better applied to the local level (Lúcio et al., 2016; Goosen et al., 2014; Weaver et al., 2013). This, eventually, will lead to “reduced disaster risk,

protecting livelihoods and promoting sustainable and sustained economic growth” (Lúcio et al., 2016, p. 53). This divide between the climate service providers and the users (or

decision-makers) is a great challenge and has even been called the ‘valley of death’ (Buontempo et al., 2014, p. 1).

As mentioned earlier, climate services are usually comprised of visuals and in order to ensure proper communication (i.e., that the visuals portray the appropriate information, and that they move a decision maker to act on climate adaptation), these visuals should be developed with care (Raaphorst et al., 2020). It is unclear, however, to what extent

developers take visual communication into account when creating a certain climate service (Raaphorst et al., 2020).

1.3 RESEARCH AIM AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research aim will be to analyse the production process of the producers of climate services, since there is a clear divide in the production process and end-user needs. The analysis will be focused on the visual communication used to transfer the climate

knowledge to the user. The following research question and sub-questions will guide the research in obtaining this aim:

Main research question

To what extent are climate services developed from a visual communication perspective?

Sub-questions

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• What similarities or differences exist across the perspectives of developers on climate services and the purposes they had when making the climate service? • What visual languages(s) ha(s)(ve) been used in the various climate services? • How did the developers ensure readability and usability for users with different

levels of knowledge?

• To what extent did the developer have the end-user (and their existing and changing knowledge, frameworks, and needs during different phases of the climate

adaptation policy process) in mind when creating the visuals for the climate service? 1.4 SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIETAL RELEVANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH

1.4.1 Scientific Relevance

The scientific relevance of the study is threefold; first, as is evident from the climate service literature, multiple gaps exists in the knowledge surrounding climate services. One of these gaps is the knowledge concerning the value for climate services for end-users (e.g. Lourenço et al., 2016; Vaughan et al., 2014; Lúcio et al., 2016). This gap is due to a lack in dialogue between producers and end-users, often resulting in climate services that are not properly customized to the user’s needs and wishes (Vaughan et al., 2014; Lúcio et al., 2016, Goosen et al., 2014). The current study will try and bridge a part of this gap by researching the producers’ intentions, assumptions, goals and considerations when producing a climate service. Also, relatively few studies have been conducted towards the production side of climate visuals (O’Neill et al., 2014) and it has therefore been described as “a key site for future research into the visualisation of climate change” (O’Neill et al., 2014, p. 82).

Secondly, climate sciences have an interest in improved or ‘good’ climate services, especially when developing standards for what constitutes ‘good’ climate information. These standards, in turn, will help users identify criteria that will help them understand the visual information (Vaughan et al., 2014, p.). Not only are standards helpful for the climate sciences, climate services are first and foremost meant to facilitate climate adaptation and mitigation. There is the assumption that advancement within climate services will produce gains within this area and thereby in social and economic wellbeing (Vaughan et al., 2018).

Lastly, this study might contribute to improving climate services in another way. Since the data will be collected from developers of climate services by interviewing them, and raising certain questions, it might be the case that an (heightened) awareness about visual communication or related topics might come to the foreground with the developers more so than would have been the case otherwise.

1.4.2 Societal Relevance

People will have to deal increasingly with the effects of climate change, and environments will need to adapt to become more sustainable and resilient. Climate services are developed to reach this goal, and to help decision-makers, private parties, or citizens in creating more sustainable and resilient environments. As is evident from the above, it is often the case that climate services are not catered to the end-user’s exact needs (e.g.: Lúcio et al., 2016; Lourenço et al., 2016; Goosen et al., 2014). Users might not be aware of the existence of the climate service, or they struggle with understanding the highly specific scientific information (Vaughan et al., 2014). It is therefore that this research aims to understand specific

production processes in which climate services are produced, in the hope that certain barriers or gaps are identified. This will help the producers of these services better cater the

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climate services to users’ needs and will ultimately result in more resilient and sustainable environments.

Moreover, it is well known that there is a variety in climate service users. These users have various needs and capabilities and it is important that the services are tailored to these needs and capabilities (through user collaboration in early stages of development) (Christel et al., 2018). This research will unveil whether various developers of climate services have actually taken multiple types of users into account and will hopefully convey the importance of these various user needs.

1.5 READING GUIDE

This introduction will provide a context for the rest of the thesis, and the research questions will act as a guide for choices of theoretical framework and methodology. Chapter 2 will elaborate on certain theories and frameworks that could be helpful in analysing visual communication. The methodology of the research is outlined in chapter 3, and the research cases will be discussed in chapter 4. Chapter 5 will discuss the findings of all the cases, after which a comparison will be conducted in chapter 6. Chapter 7 will conclude the research and a discussion will be presented in chapter 8.

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CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS

2.1 CLIMATE SERVICES AND THE POLICY PROCESS

As mentioned in the problem statement, climate services are generally defined as services that include climate-related information and are meant to assist decision makers when it comes to climate-related matters. Raaphorst et al. (2020) make this even more concrete by positing that climate services:

“(1) provide useful information and knowledge related to climate change or climate change impacts; (2) are used for (climate) informed making by decision-makers, including non-governmental/private individuals and organizations; (3) act as guidance and counselling in their use; (4) entail the transformation of climate data into customized products; (5) encompass a variety of different tools, such as maps, projections, scenarios and assessments; (6) support climate change adaptation, mitigation, and disaster risk management; (7) are produced as a result of a specific demand (user-driven).” (Raaphorst et al., 2020, p. 2).

The production of these climate services has been on the rise and multiple organisations or parties (such as local, regional or national governments, consultancies, international

agencies, humanitarian organisations, or even parties from civil society) have focused attention on climate services as a way of increasing sustainability and resilience (Vaughan et al., 2014). The value has been made clear by organisations such as the WMO, who posit that climate services are “critical to improve decision-making in climate-sensitive sectors”

(WMO, 2019, p. 11).

What is of importance, as discussed earlier, is that climate services take into account the needs of the users. This will enable the climate adaptation and mitigation processes. The user needs depend on the policy phase of climate adaptation. Figure 1 shows a schematic of the policy phases throughout the adaptation process (Moser and Ekstrom, 2010). Three distinct phases can be distinguished. The first is the understanding phase, which involves the detection of a problem, gathering information surrounding the problem and the definition and frame of the problem. The planning phase involves the development, assessment and selection of adaptation options. Finally, the management phase involves implementation of the selection options, the monitoring of these and eventually evaluation (Moser and

Ekstrom, 2010). Knowledge needs differ on the phase in which an organisation is. Whereas in the first phase an organisation might be needing a problem overview, in the planning phase there could be a need for options of tools to help combat the problem. In the managing phase, an organisation could be in need of multiple tactics to implement the chosen solution or tool. Right now, most climate services are focused on the earlier phases, and only a slight percentage of the climate services focus on the later phases (Raaphorst et al., 2020). These observations imply - according to Raaphorst et al. (2020) - “the existence of ‘usability gaps’ at various levels […] and in different phases of adaptation process” (pg. 2).

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Figure 1, Moser and Ekstrom (2010), Phases and subprocesses throughout the adaptation process 2.2 VISUAL COMMUNICATION

Climate services are largely comprised of visuals and depend on well-thought-out visual communication to convey information to the users (Vaughan et al., 2014; Raaphorst et al., 2020). Visual communication in the context of the current research could be defined as “any visual artifact that takes into account, implicitly or explicitly, the communicative principles specific to the genre of that particular artifact” (Propen, 2007, p. 241). The visual can be anything from photographs, to paintings and even verbal descriptions of images or writing itself (Machin, 2014). Communicative principles within these visuals are also numerous. Propen (2007) explains the concept of a communicative principle by presenting the example of the map. Maps hold particular cartographic conventions that display its audience and its purpose, for instance. Through these conventions, one is able to understand the visual communication present in the map, such as the notion that maps usually tell us where things are located. It is through these principles or conventions that meanings are formed.

To analyse the climate services a visual methodology will be used, as can be seen in Figure 2 (Rose, 2001). This methodology “thinks about the agency of the image, considers the social practices and effects of its viewing, and reflects on the specificity of that viewing by various audiences including the academic critic” (p. 32). The visual methodology is based on the concept that each image forms meaning on each one of three specific sites: the site of production, of the image itself and the site of audiencing (the site “where it is seen by various audiences” (pg. 16)). There are three modalities at each visual site: the technological modality, the compositional and the social modality (Rose, 2001). The technological

modality describes any type of apparatus designed to be looked at or that would enhance vision (Mirozeff, 1998 in Rose, 2001), the compositional modality could be described in terms of content, colour and spatial organisation, and the social modality refers to the range of practices, institutions and economic, political and social relations that surround an image and through which it is both seen and used (Rose, 2001).

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Figure 2, Rose (2001), Visual Methodologies

Within the present study, emphasis will mainly be placed on the sites of production and on the site of the image itself, and especially the compositional modality and the social

modality for the site of production. The compositional modality concerns the genre of the visual image, and the social modality is concerned with questions such as ‘who?’, ‘when?’, ‘who for?’ or ‘why?’.

The site of the image itself is concerned with the visual effects of the image (i.e., is an image shown individually to people on paper, or is the image produced on a screen?), the social modality can account for some of the visual meanings. The producer could, for

example, be affiliated with a certain discourse, political viewpoint, or could be on a budget to produce the image. Lastly, the image has a compositional modality. The compositional modality basically revolves around how everything is shown in the image itself. What is or is not shown in the image, the way things are shown (through numbers, graphs, pictures), all work together to bring across a certain image and influence the way someone might interpret, understand or internalize certain information.

Raaphorst et al. (2019) also developed a visual discourse framework (Figure 3) which will aid with the analysis of the site of production and the site of the image itself. This framework has been developed explicitly in the context of design processes, and therefore only select parts of the framework will be used in the current study. Raaphorst et al. (2019) explain how visual communication is riddled with power and knowledge. They distinguish three components of visual discourse; namely the arrangement of the participatory process, the interactivity of the medium and the visual rhetoric of image. The framework below shows these components, as well as the categories that go alongside the components and

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examples. By consciously using these components Raaphorst et al. (2019) feel that miscommunication could be minimized.

Not all components of visual discourse will be relevant for the current analysis of climate services. The bottom two components, ‘interactivity of medium’, and ‘rhetoric of image’, are highly relevant in the context of the site of the image, and the ‘arrangement of participatory processes’ might be a bit less relevant in the current context. It does, however show overlap with the site of production, and it is interesting to look into the policy process by researching how the cooperation is structured in practice between the developing and receiving parties.

Figure 3, Raaphorst et al. (2019), Visual Discourse Model 2.3 EPISTEMIC COMMUNITIES

A final theoretical concept will be on epistemic communities, and the power and knowledge construction that is inherent within these communities. Rose (2001) and Raaphorst et al. (2019) already touch on power and discourse, by making explicit the ways in which a visual can be created. Plenty has been written on visual discourses, and on power discourses specifically. Many scholars acknowledge the power constructions or power relations that are present within these visuals, and that through the makings of texts (‘texts’ also include visuals), certain knowledge and power relations come to the foreground, whereas other forms of knowledge or power do not (e.g. Richardson, 1996; Rose, 2001; Harley, 1988; Barton & Barton, 1993a).

Especially maps (a form of visual communication often used as a climate service) are the focus of discourse analyses and power relations (e.g. Harley 1988; Barton & Barton, 1993b), and are “complicit with social-control mechanisms inextricably linked to power and authority” (Barton & Barton, 1993b, p. 53). Experts produce maps in such a way that certain elements of the landscape are represented, and others are not, depending on what

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way, these experts can exercise influence on decision-makers (Dunlop, 2009). When experts belong to a certain community that shares certain values, or beliefs, they might belong to an epistemic community. An epistemic community has been defined as:

“An epistemic community may consist of professionals from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds, they have (1) a shared set of normative and principled beliefs, which provide a value-based rationale for the social action of community members; (2) shared causal beliefs, which are derived from their analysis of practices leading or contributing to a central set of problems in their domain and which then serve as the basis for elucidating the multiple linkages between possible policy actions and desired outcomes; (3) shared notions of validity – that is, intersubjective, internally defined criteria for weighing and validating knowledge in the domain of their expertise; and (4) a common policy enterprise – that is, a set of common practices associated with a set of problems to which their professional competence is directed, presumably out of the

conviction that human welfare will be enhanced as a consequence.” (Haas, 1992, p. 3).

These epistemic communities, then, are comprised of professionals across all sorts of scientific fields. They produce issue-relevant knowledge for decision makers to use (Dunlop, 2009). Haas (1992) developed a framework that shows the characteristics of the members of an epistemic community, as shown in Figure 4.

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2.4 CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Figure 5 represents the conceptual model, which visualises the relationship between the various theoretical frameworks presented above. The model shows two coloured boxes; a green one and a grey one. The green one shows the users and the grey one shows the developers, the (visual properties of) climate service and the frameworks to analyse these. The focus in this thesis will be on the grey box, but since interaction with the users exists (be it in the form of collaboration, gathered data, or simply the fact that a service is produced for a userbase), the green box is also presented in the conceptual model.

The model (when looking at the grey box) shows three different elements; the developers (and possible epistemic community members), the developmental process (in which the developers possibly take the ‘rules’ of their epistemic community and user needs to produce the climate service) and the climate service itself, with all its visual properties. The ‘rules’ of the epistemic community refer to the framework by de Haas (1992) in which it is posited that epistemic communities have a shared knowledge and interest base, and shared principled and causal beliefs (presented as the ‘rules’ of the epistemic community). The user needs do not necessarily refer to the needs as established by the users themselves. These could also be assumed user needs by the developers and general user interaction through which the final climate service is produced.

The yellow boxes represent the frameworks as discussed above. These frameworks have loosely been posited in the model. This to say that the frameworks work

interchangeably to retrieve information. It could, for instance, be that by asking developers about different visual properties with the help of the visual discourse model by Raaphorst et al. (2019), that insights into their respective epistemic communities could be gathered.

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Figure 5, Conceptual model on the role of (considerations on) visual communication in developmental processes of climate services

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN

3.1 RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY

Epistemology tries to answer the question of “What is the nature of the relationship

between the knower or would-be knower and what can be known” (Guba and Lincoln, 1994, p. 108). The dominant epistemology within the current research is that of social

constructivism. Social constructivism aims to uncover how it is that individuals seek understanding in their worlds. These individuals have developed meanings of the things around them through their experiences (Creswell and Poth, 2018). These observations and experiences are dependent upon the individual and do not have to be consistent across individuals (Moses and Knutsen, 2012). These meanings, then, are not simply imprinted upon the individuals. Rather, they are constructed through social interaction and through historical norms (Creswell and Poth, 2018). It is the researcher’s task to try and present the multiplicity of meanings and the goal of the research “is to rely as much as possible on the participants’ views of the situation” (Creswell and Poth, 2018, p. 24). It is, however, important for the researcher to keep in mind that their own background also shapes interpretation of the data they collect. Researchers should “position themselves in the research to acknowledge how their interpretation flows from their own personal, cultural and historical experiences” (Creswell and Poth, 2018, p. 24). A social constructivist

framework lends itself for qualitative research, since the researcher is trying to gain an understanding of the individually constructed meanings. The researcher will ask individuals broad and open questions, so meanings will not be forged (Creswell and Poth, 2018).

The present study (or similar studies) would ideally also encompass a framework of transformation. A transformative framework has at its core to improve society and aid people through knowledge construction. The research should contain an “action agenda for reform that may change the lives of participants, the institutions in which they live and work, or even the researchers’ lives” (Creswell and Poth, 2018, p. 25.). The ultimate aim of research towards climate services is to better ways in which to aid climate adaptation and in doing so improving society. The transformative framework is outside of the scope of the current study since no research will be conducted towards the ways in which society has been improved, but a follow-up research would ideally include this framework of

transformation.

3.2 METHODS 3.2.1 Case studies

The main research philosophy underlying the study then, is that of social constructivism. As mentioned, within this philosophy the aim is to uncover how individuals seek understanding in their worlds. The research question: “To what extent are climate services developed from a visual communication perspective?” also aims to undercover certain perspectives from individuals. To this end, individuals will be interviewed about the development process of certain climate services.

In order to obtain a thorough overview of the development process, cases will be identified in which data will be collected from multiple sources (such as interviewing

multiple developers of one climate service). The individual case studies will revolve around a single climate service. The ultimate goal of case studies is to create an in-depth

understanding of an issue from the viewpoint of a participant (Harrison et al., 2017) and to form conclusions, or assertions on the basis of the case study research (Stake, 1995 in

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Creswell and Poth, 2018). It is also with these goals in mind that a triangulation of data is recommended (Yin, 2014; Creswell and Poth, 2018). The cases that have been selected for the current study will be presented in chapter 4.

There are different methods to conducting case studies. In general, two broad divisions exist in case study research, the realist/positivist perspective, or the

relativist/interpretivist perspective (Yin, 2014; in Harrison et al., 2017). Underlying the first perspective is the philosophy that patterns can be discovered within the case(s), and that one reality can be constructed. The results can be measured and are replicable. The latter perspective entails the notion of the construction of multiple realities, which depend and are co-created by the researcher (Harrison et al., 2017). This perspective is the perspective that is most in line with the current research, since the aim of the study is to construct an understanding of each specific case. There does not need to be a pattern or generalisation across the cases.

3.2.2 Critical discourse analysis

Critical discourse analysis has been described as an interdisciplinary research movement with many different theoretical frameworks, methods and approaches (Fairclough et al., 2011). The overarching principle connecting discourse analyses, however, is that they share an interest in issues of power, injustice and social change (Fairclough et al., 2011;

Blommaert & Bulcaen, 2000). A critical discourse analysis, then, “studies real, and often extended, instances of social interaction which take (partially) linguistic form” (Wodak, 1997, p. 173 in Blommaert & Bulcan, 2000).

A discourse analysis could be conducted by analysing the three dimensions of discourse. The first of those is discourse-as-text. i.e. linguistic features in concrete instances of discourse (such as choice in vocabulary). The second of these dimensions is discourse-as-discursive practice, i.e. discourse as something that is produced, distributed and consumed in society (in this case within the society of an organisation). Lastly, there is discourse-as-social practice. This entails the notion of “the ideological effects and hegemonic processes in which discourse is a feature” (in this case that might entail the political environment, for example) (Fairclough, 1992 in Blommaert & Bulcaen, 2000, p. 449). All of these dimensions of discourse have been taken into consideration when conducting the analysis and

producing the results of the analysis in chapter 5. 3.3 DATA COLLECTION AND DATA ANALYSIS

Multiple forms of data collection will be employed, and this data will be collected from multiple sources. The data analysis will mainly be executed through coding in Atlas.ti (Muhr, 1991) and with the help of a discourse analysis. Different ways of data collection and

analysis should be employed to answer the various research questions. 3.3.1 Data sources and data collection

Interviews with developers of climate services

The interview is a form of data collection that poses questions to respondents about certain facts, attitudes, intentions, or beliefs the respondent holds (Farthing, 2016). Interviews are an appropriate form of data collection in the current study, since they will provide an insight into these decisions, attitudes, beliefs, or assumptions underlying the development of the climate service. For the current study developers of climate services have been interviewed. Per case, multiple developers have been interviewed since the climate services go through

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various stages of development and through multiple layers of an organisation. To ensure the most complete overview of all the intentions, assumptions or goals, it was deemed best to interview multiple respondents per case.

There are different types of interviews and different methodological choices that have been made prior to conducting the interview (Farthing, 2016). One of the first distinctions that had to be made was whether the interview had to be structured or not. Since the aim of the research is to uncover a certain issue (the gap between the

development of climate information services and the end-users’ understanding and use of these services), the interviews allowed for open-ended questions and were less structured. One other choice is whether the interview is an in-depth interview or a breadth interview (Farthing, 2016). For the current research the aim was to conduct both in-depth interviews (in which a topic is discussed in great depth), and to have breadth interviews (meaning that multiple cases are highlighted) (Farthing, 2016). From a practical viewpoint however, there will always be a trade-off between the two (Farthing, 2016).

Background documents

Another source of information that has been used are background documents underlying the climate services. These could have been any type of document, such as promotional texts or videos, instructions, or background documents that provide context to the

development of the tool. These documents provide extra context to the climate service and might provide answers as to what type of communication is used in relation to the users of the service or on the accessibility of the tool, for example.

3.3.2 Analysis

Atlas.ti

The interviews will be transcribed and these transcripts will be imported into Atlas.ti, which is a programme that will help qualitative researchers with the interpretation of texts. The programme supports the researcher process large quantities of text, and to keep track of certain concepts, structures or annotations (Muhr, 1991). Codes were created (based on the theoretical frameworks) and based on these codes a discourse analysis has been conducted. The coding scheme can be found in the appendix (appendix II). The process of coding turned out to be an iterative process, since the phases of collecting interview-data and coding this data overlapped.

Document analysis

The research also consisted of a document analysis. The documents for the document analysis have also been imported into Atlas.ti. A document analysis has been defined as “a systematic procedure for reviewing or evaluating documents – both printed and electronic (computer-based and internet-transmitted) material” (Bowen, 2009), and documents can be seen as “’social facts’, which are produced, shared and used in socially organised ways (Atkinson and Coffey, 1997 in Bowen, 2009).

3.4 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY 3.4.1 Validity

Validity can be described as the “attempt to assess the ‘accuracy’ of the findings, as best described by the researcher, the participants, and the readers (or reviewers)” (Creswell and Poth, 2018, p. 259). In order to ensure the validity, multiple strategies can be applied to the

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research process. One of these is the use of triangulation. Triangulation entails the expectation that the researcher draws upon multiple sources of evidence, multiple

methods, multiple researchers, or multiple theories (Denzin, 2006) in order to try and “seek convergence and corroboration” (Bowen, 2009, p. 28). Multiple sources of evidence (data sources) will be used in this study, meaning that multiple participants will be interviewed across multiple cases, as well as data collection of documents and transcripts. This form of triangulation is the easiest to implement and easily allows for extension.

3.4.2 Reliability

Creswell (2018) also describes a few strategies in which the reliability of a research could be guaranteed; namely (1) “Establish a common platform for coding, and develop a preliminary code list”; (2) “Develop and share the initial codebook among coders”; (3) “Apply the code to additional transcripts, and compare coding across multiple researchers”; and (4) “Assess and report the intercoder agreement among researchers” (p. 264-265).

Not all of these strategies have been employed, since not all were feasible within the scope and timeframe of the current study (especially in times in which it is harder to discuss matters such as the codebook with other researchers due to everyone working from home). A common platform for coding has been established – this was easily be done in Atlas.ti. - and a preliminary code list had also been developed. The code list was presented to a fellow researcher (the supervisor of the current study).

3.5 ETHICS

Ethics is intrinsic to the constructivist paradigm “because of the inclusion of participant values in the inquiry (starting with respondents’ existing constructions and working toward increased information and sophistication in their constructions as well as in the inquirer’s construction)” (Guba & Lincoln, 1994, p. 115). What is especially important then, regarding ethics, is to be mindful of the input from the participant (and the interpretation of the researcher of this input). Moreover, when conducting interviews and working together with participants, it should be noted that the researcher should adhere to principles of respect and confidentiality and the participant should have given their consent before the start of the interview. Special care has been taken in order to ensure consent given by the

participant. The participant was asked twice – once before and once after the start of the recording – whether they consented to the recording of the interview (and the transcript that would follow). Participants were also asked whether they would like to receive the transcript.

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CHAPTER 4: CASE STUDIES

An overview will be presented below of the selected cases for the current study. Four cases have been selected, which is a small group of cases. These cases will be compared against one another. The group of comparison cases is arguably small, which is purposefully done to keep the potential of drawing conclusions. Would the group have been much bigger, certain conclusions might not be reached due to the number of connections, and the complexity of the number of connections (Lieberson, 2000, in Creswell et al., 2008).

4.1 CASES

4.1.1 Climate Impact Atlas [Klimaateffectatlas]

The first selected case is that of the Climate Impact Atlas [Klimaateffectatlas]. The tool has been developed after Dutch provinces and knowledge institutions voiced their needs for climate information compiled into one tool (Klimaateffectatlas, n.d.). The Climate Impact Atlas is an online tool that shows a user the effects of climate change in the year 2050. The current situation is also presented in the atlas. The atlas contains information on the subjects of ‘flooding’, ‘water nuisance’, ‘drought’ and ‘heat’, and a user can enter their municipality to see regionally relevant information. The information provided in the atlas is accompanied by so-called ‘story maps’ [kaartverhalen]. These story maps will guide the user through information that can be obtained from the atlas.

Figure 6, Screenshot of the Climate Impact Atlas

4.1.2 Climate-Proof City Toolbox [Toolbox Klimaatbestendige Stad]

The Climate-Proof City Toolbox is a tool that will let the user select different climate adaptation measures within an area that the user is able to draw themself. The user can voice their climate adaptation goal, which could be any of the following: relief from heat stress; protection against drought; relief from water nuisance; or an increase in water safety. The user specifies certain aspects of the chosen area, such as the steepness of roofs in the area, the type of soil in the area, the existing types of spatial uses (such as water, buildings, agriculture, etc), or the available amount of space in the subsurface.

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After the user has specified the area and the aspects characteristic to that area, the user can implement certain measures (presented in a list in the tool) that would enable the user to reach their adaptation goal. A separate window will show the user the results of the implemented measures, for example by showing the user how much extra water retention the user has created. The tool will also provide an estimation of the costs involved with the measures (Kennisportaal Ruimtelijke Adaptatie, n.d., d).

Originally, the tool had been developed to be used in guided sessions in which end-users would be instructed on the functionalities of the tool by advisors. Whilst this is still an option, people are also able to use the tool individually since the tool has since become available on the internet.

Figure 7, Screenshot of the Climate-Proof City Toolbox

4.1.3 NAS Adaptation Tool [NAS-adaptatietool]

The NAS Adaptation tool has been developed in the context of the National adaptation strategy (van Lamoen et al., 2019). The National adaptation strategy was formed after it had become apparent that the Deltraprogramme did not cover all climate change risks. The climate change risks that needed more attention were then included in the National adaptation strategy (van Lamoen et al., 2019).

The NAS Adaptation Tool shows the effects of climate change for four climate trends (‘it will get hotter’, ‘it will get drier’, ‘it will get wetter’, and ‘the sea level is rising’) in four sphere schematics [bollenschema’s; own translation]. De schematics present a simplified visualisation of the effects of climate change (Kennisportaal Ruimtelijke Adaptatie, n.d., c). The effects visualised within the sphere schematics have been grouped per sector, whether the impact of the effect is large or semi-large and whether the effect is a threat, opportunity or whether that is unclear. The user is able to select the spheres most relevant to them (and their respective sector). The tool can be used as a starting point for the user to collect tailored data (and provide answers to the question ‘what does climate change mean for my sector?’) (van Lamoen et al., 2019).

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Figure 8, Screenshot of the NAS Adaptation-Tool

4.1.4 Plotmodel Laren [Perceelmodel Laren]

The Plotmodel Laren (own translation) is a tool that has been created for the municipality of Laren. The municipality has had to deal with water nuisance in the past and one event in particular led to the creation of the Plotmodel. An extreme downpour in the summer of 2014 caused lower parts of the municipality to flood. The event led to considerable damages and the municipality wanted to prevent a similar situation from happening in the future. The municipality was considering whether to disconnect all plot owners from the communal sewage system, but ultimately decided to have inhabitants voluntarily disconnect. This led to the creation of the PLotmodel Laren. The tool is meant to show the inhabitants of the municipality of Laren how much water retention is needed on their specific plots, which measures inhabitants could take to increase retention, and what effects these measures would have. The tool shows this by running a simulation of rainfall (for example, 60

millimetres of rainfall in one hour), and modelling which ways the water would go. The tool allows for a discussion about disconnecting and would hopefully motivate the inhabitants to act and disconnect their plots from the communal sewage system. End-users will be

personally guided in these discussions and in the use of the tool by advisors. The tool is not meant to be used without this guidance.

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Figure 9, Screenshot of the Plotmodel Laren 4.2 JUSTIFICATION

The above selected climate services were not selected at random, they needed to adhere to a couple of criteria. The first of which is a very practical one, namely that the people

involved with producing the tools needed to be available. In this case, this was done by talking to developers who were either working at Deltares, with Deltares, or were within the Deltares network. There were no cases that were considered for this thesis and had to be excluded based on this first criterium.

A second criteria was that the tools needed to bring a certain diversity to the group of cases since all the individual tools would serve as comparative cases. The first three cases are all national tools, publicly available and are being used by (local) governments. They are, however, quite different from each other. The Climate Impact Atlas can be seen as a

catalogue of sorts with maps that will show the user information on the topics of flooding, water nuisance, drought or heat. The Climate-Proof City Toolbox and the NAS Adaptation-Tool also contain information on the basis of these four topics. The Climate-Proof City Toolbox, however, lets users draw a certain area in which they can implement measures. This, then, is a more involved process (on the basis of the tool alone) than the Climate Impact Atlas, for instance. The Climate-Proof City Toolbox also differs from the other nationally available tools in that the tool is ideally used in workshops. The NAS Adaptation-Tool is also an interesting case, considering the visuals are quite different from the other tools. All three other tools are map-based, whereas the NAS Adaptation-Tool presents climate information in spheres. Lastly, the Plotmodel Laren was added to the list of tools. This tool presents a really interesting case since the aim of the tool is to create an

understanding of the problems regarding water nuisance in the municipality of Laren and to motivate inhabitants to implement some measures on their individual plots to capture water. The tool is used in conversations with inhabitants of the municipality of Laren and therefore represents a different kind of tool than the nationally available web-based tools.

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4.3 RESPONDENTS

4.3.1 Overview of the respondents

Below is a list of the interviewees (names are excluded due to privacy reasons). The interviewees will be described on the basis of their professional function and/or their

function in the development of the tool and their respective organisations. They all received a code (‘interview code’) in order to ensure anonymity. The interviewer has also been added to the overview of respondents, and has received the code ‘A’.

The respondents have been selected on the basis of a couple of criteria. The most pragmatic – but very important – one, is the fact that the respondent had to be within reach. In this case that meant that the respondents would ideally be within the network of Deltares (the internship-company). This would allow for easier access to contact information and to the person themselves. The aim was furthermore to create an overview of

respondents who would have varying roles within the climate service development process. Very generally this could mean that one respondent was more technically inclined (and had for example mainly been working on the functionalities and the actual development of the tool) whereas another would be more occupied with the managerial and administrative elements surrounding the tool.

Case Function Organisation Interview

Code

All Interviewer Radboud University A

Climate Impact Atlas Founder of the Climate Impact Atlas. Visualises and edits the data of the Climate Impact Atlas and gathers user needs for the tool.

Climate Adaptation Services

(CAS) D

Climate Impact Atlas Text editor. Climate Adaptation Services

(CAS) C

Climate-Proof City

Toolbox Expert advisor Urban Land & Water Management. Took initiative in creating the Climate-Proof City Toolbox.

Deltares B

Climate-Proof City

Toolbox Specialist on urban hydrology. Brought together the user wishes and the programmers.

Deltares E

NAS Adaptation-Tool Interim project manager for

the NAS. Wing H

NAS Adaptation Tool Creating the visual language

for the NAS. Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations F NAS Adaptation Tool Creating the visual language

for the NAS.

Academie van Bouwkunst, Amsterdam

G Plotmodel Laren Serious game developer. Deltares I Plotmodel Laren Development of the

Masterplan ‘Laren Ready for Rain’ [Laren Regenklaar] and project leader.

ToekomstSterk J

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4.3.2 Interview protocol

The respondents were informed about the research via email. A short description of the research was given, and they were asked whether they would like to participate in the research. Whenever they consented to an interview, the respondents would receive the interview guide (also over email) and were invited to ask questions beforehand (or during the interview). The interview guide has been added to the appendices (appendix I). The interview would normally take an hour (which was deemed long enough but not too long that respondents would object to an interview). They were asked for consent to record the interview and were also asked whether they would like to receive the transcript after the interview.

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CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS

This chapter will present the findings from the interviews and the document analysis, in the form of a descriptive analysis and a discourse analysis. This chapter will be divided into four sections, each of which represents a case. In chapter 2 a couple of theoretical frameworks have been discussed. When looking at these and the conceptual framework that had been derived from these frameworks, three ‘themes’ can be distilled. These themes can be labelled as ‘development’, ‘the visual’ and ’respondents’. The themes of developmental process and the visual characteristics are especially present in the frameworks by Rose (2001) and by Raaphorst et al. (2019), but the framework Moser and Ekstrom (2010) will also be reflected within this section. The theme of ‘respondents’ will present elements of the framework on epistemic communities by Haas (1992). An analysis on the background documents will be conducted as well, after which the discourse analysis follows.

5.1 CLIMATE IMPACT ATLAS

The Climate Impact Atlas is a web-based tool that shows a user the effects of climate change in the both the present and in a future scenario – the year 2050. The atlas contains

information (shown on maps) on the subjects of ‘flooding’, ‘water nuisance’, ‘drought’ and ‘heat’. A user can enter their municipality to see regionally relevant information.

Two participants were interviewed in the context of this case, namely respondent D and respondent C. Respondent D is the founder of the Climate Impact Atlas and is mainly concerned with the visualisation and editing of the data they receive. They were also concerned with gathering user needs. Respondent C is a text editor and is involved with the text editing of the tool, meaning that they ‘simplify’ the texts that have appeared or will appear in the tool to be understandable to the general public.

5.1.1 Development

A couple of elements and/or questions are of importance within this subsection of

‘development’. Respondents were asked, as some sort of introduction to the tool and to the developmental process, what the reason was the climate service has been developed, which parties have been involved with the development of the service, and what the intended user of the service is and how they are intended to use the tool (i.e. in what phase of the planning or policy process users could make use of the climate service).

The Climate Impact Atlas had originally been developed due to an assignment given by Dutch provinces. Lots of pieces of climate information already existed but had not yet been brought together. The Climate Impact Atlas would show the integration of all the existing climate information. It was therefore that multiple types of parties had been involved in the development of the service (consultancies, governmental organisations, and knowledge institutes), since they were functioning as the data suppliers for the climate service. The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute [KNMI], for example, covers the data concerning general climate data on rainfall, or temperature. Multiple other knowledge institutes (such as TAUW, Deltares or Wageningen University and Research, TNO) are involved with the calculations on these types of data. Deltares, for instance, makes maps on the risk of floods or water nuisance, and Wageningen creates maps on heat stress and urban heat islands.

The Climate Impact Atlas had been developed to service a plethora of end-users, such as (local) governments, educational institutions, consultancies, but also private

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companies. These end-users are not expected to have technical, complex knowledge at their disposal, since the texts in the atlas have been written to be understandable for the larger part of the population. End-users are able to use the climate service during multiple phases of their policy process. It was explained that users will use the tool either to help formulate some sort of adaptation strategy, or in an ad-hoc sort of way, where the user would search for climate information at the time something comes up (for instance when a municipality has to extend permits). Respondent D mentioned that there was not really one particular phase in which the tool would be of use for the aforementioned users, but that there could be continuous use for the tool, throughout policy processes.

Respondent D also stressed the importance of cocreation with the end-users in the process of development. This process involves the users in developmental phases of the tool, by trying to figure out what user needs are.

“If you ask a user what they would want to know, then they would say ‘I want the best data, in the highest resolution, and it also needs to be readable’. And then you present them with a map and it turns out it does not reflect what they want. Or you discover, right, when someone says ‘I want a drought map’, it turns out that they did not want a map of the average drought in a year, but that they would like a map of, what is the word, the ten driest years in the month of April, or something along those lines. So, a drought map can easily be mentioned, but what drought means exactly has to be discovered in a number of iterations. And we initiated the whole process of cocreation within the CAS foundation and we continue, well that process continually goes on.”

[Respondent D, translated] This process of cocreation also focusses on questions such as what kind of

appearance the tool should have, whether it is attractive enough or whether it is clear what buttons need to be pressed. The cocreation sessions also focused on what volume of information users would be able to process. Respondent D mentioned that the future scenario’s (i.e. the scenarios that show a user what the climate situation is in the year x), for example, had been reduced from five scenarios to two, since it had become apparent during these user interactions that more than two scenarios would be too much information for the users to process. These parts of the process might however tend to focus a bit less on cocreation, and a bit more on optimalisation of the tool through user-feedback.

5.1.2 The Visual

When it comes to the visual, a couple of elements are of importance and formed the basis of questions to the different respondents for the climate services. These elements, derived from the framework by Raaphorst et al. (2019) as presented in chapter 2, are ‘accessibility’, ‘adaptability’, ‘anchorage and relay’, ‘denotation’ and connotation’. Respondents were asked to what extent they took these different elements into account whilst developing the climate services.

Both the respondents mentioned that thought had been put into making the service accessible by (re)writing certain texts in the Climate Impact Atlas. The data that underlies the information in the climate tool can be highly technical with legends that are not easily understood or descriptions of certain elements within a map that are rather complex. It is therefore that a text editor had been enlisted to create accessible texts. Respondent C

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explained that usually, accessible texts are written at a B1 level of language proficiency. This level of language proficiency is generally meant to understood that 95% of citizens are able to understand the text, according to the respondent. In order to rewrite a text to a B1 level multiple things need to be considered, such as grammar, structure of the text, and

terminology. A reader should, for instance, be able to recognise questions they might have in the different subheadings. Courses on accessible writing techniques had even been given to other professionals within the network of the respondents who would supply the Climate Impact Atlas with data. This would hopefully ensure that certain texts are written accessibly in an even earlier stage of development.

What also enables accessibility to the climate service is the use of story maps in the tool and the fact that there is a helpdesk available to help users when they have certain questions or comments. The story maps essentially show the user what information they can extract from the maps that are present in the Climate Impact Atlas. These have been added after several user interactions in which it became apparent that it sometimes could be difficult to navigate the tool. The main task of the helpdesk is to deliver GIS-data to users. Additionally, end-users are able to give feedback on the tool via the helpdesk.

Figure 10, Example of (part of) a story map

It was apparent that the developers of the Climate Impact Atlas had a rather large influence on what the final texts should be. Less influence, however, could sometimes be employed on visual aspects of the data such as the colours that are present in the maps. Respondent D mentioned how they sometimes come across literature which states that maps should not display information on a scale that ranges from green to red. One map in the Climate Impact Atlas does display this colour scale, but the developers were not allowed to alter the colours since it has been decided – in the political spheres – that that is the colour scheme that should be adhered to (not to say that the respondent would per se alter the colours of the maps, just that it was not an option).

“And this is then… considering the literature you should not do it this way, I think. But this is a map that has been politically established, and well, we cannot change it.”