Jena is a city of about 108,000 inhabitants and – due to its specific geographic location – is exposed to various climate change-related risks, whereas heatwaves are the most relevant. Climate projections for Jena expect a substantial increase of this risk in the future. Under the frame of "JenKAS - Jena Climate Adaptation Strategy", a concept for adapting the city to climate change impacts was developed between 2009 and 2012 as part of a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development and the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development. The overall goal of the project was to lay the ground for mainstreaming climate change adaptation into urban planning.

The redevelopment of the Inselplatz - a 3 hectares inner city square mainly used as parking area – into a new campus of the Friedrich Schiller University was one of the first practical interventions for which the JenKAS approach was applied. As part of the planning process economic assessments were conducted to determine the most suitable bundle of adaptation measures to reduce local heat risk and to improve the local climate of this specific area in the medium and long-term perspective.