As climate change increasingly threatens urban areas, there is a growing need for inclusive and coordinated adaptation strategies, especially in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). This thesis examines how stakeholder collaboration in Willemstad’s Inner City, Curaçao, can be enhanced to promote more sustainable and climate-resilient urban development. The research identified ongoing barriers, including poor communication, limited coordination, and diverging interests, which hinder the effectiveness and continuity of current efforts.

Using a design-driven approach, the project combined contextual analysis, stakeholder interviews, and co-creation sessions to explore these issues and pinpoint strategic opportunities for intervention. The results are two tools: the Playbook, a step-by-step tool to support project-level collaboration and stakeholder engagement, and the Roadmap, a timeline-based strategy for developing a Living Lab. Together, these tools act as an “engagement catalyst,” encouraging immediate action and long-term alignment.

This thesis contributes to the understanding of climate collaboration in small-scale, socially complex environments and offers practical instruments to connect local initiatives with systemic coordination.