The State of Climate Resilience and Water Governance in the City of Toronto: Advancing Adaptation at the Climate–Water Interface Through Baseline Assessment Research

ABSTRACT The City of Toronto is Canada's largest city and the fourth largest in North America. In the last two decades, it has experienced significant climate‐related water issues, which have resulted in significant local flooding, decreasing water quality, and increasing climate change awareness. Similar to other jurisdictions across the world, the city has undertaken many climate resilience‐building efforts and actions across multiple areas. This article undertakes a review of current climate resilience actions and efforts in the city, focusing on the areas of climate science and modeling, climate and water policies, city governance, and community responses to water‐related climate hazards. The article develops and applies a new Community Climate Resilience Assessment Framework (CCRAF) to assess the research findings and evaluate the baseline state of climate change resilience in the city, particularly related to water governance challenges. Using the City of Toronto as an illustrative case study, this article demonstrates the importance of establishing a strong understanding of the current community, governance, and institutional contexts, as a means of identifying opportunities to increase climate and community resilience in cities. The results from the application of the CCRAF indicate current areas of strength in city resilience‐building efforts include its focus on emissions mitigation, numerous climate and community initiatives, resident support programs, and incentives. Potential areas for improvement include integrating fragmented governance structures, building capacity and designating resource allocations for climate–water resilience efforts, and enhancing engagement of marginalized groups at the climate–water interface. On the basis of these findings, the article highlights the importance of and need for additional focus on climate–water adaptation, deepening community engagement of diverse perspectives, and centering Indigenous knowledges and perspectives to support governance innovations and increase overall climate resilience. The article also outlines the importance of baseline research and how this new framework can be applied in other communities and transboundary regions in Canada and beyond.