Abstract
Cities experience the impacts of climate change through water-related disasters, while transitioning to sustainable and equitable water management remains crucial. Therefore, approaches that integrate water transitions with climate adaptation become essential. Various approaches exist for assessing the status of cities in water management and climate adaptation. However, they typically rely on expert judgment, without involving stakeholders. The water-sensitive cities index enables cities to be actively involved and set ambitions for transitioning towards water sensitivity. As water-related challenges vary across different climatic regions and cities of different sizes, the index should be adjusted to regional and local conditions. This paper responds to such a need for midsize cities in the North Sea Region. The indicators of the index and the allocation of city-states were tailored to the regional conditions through a co-design process during a collaborative project and applied in seven midsize cities using a self-assessment approach. The self-assessment provides a snapshot (in 2020), which reveals strengths and weaknesses influencing the transition. Climate events or policies may have shifted since. Applying the self-assessment regularly and connecting it to local planning cycles can provide additional value. Adjusting the weights of indicators can also increase the suitability for the local context.