Planning for Climate Change - UN-Habitat

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Climate Change: A Review 3.2.3 CLIMATE PLANNING AND CITY PLANNING The connections between town planning and climate change adaptation are strong and clear. Planners play a direct role in shaping and controlling land use and urban form – a significant determinant of both a city’s adaptive capacity and climate change resilience, and the level of climate change impact risk for vulnerable urban populations. From a mitigation perspective, urban form is also a major driver of a city’s greenhouse gas emissions. Key areas where planners can support and lead adaptation and mitigation activities in more traditional physical planning capacities are summarized below. Land use: Careful attention to physical land use and development patterns (urban form) is a way for planners to manage and adapt to the effects of climate change. For example, planners are key players in the designation of land uses and can help shape settlement patterns to reduce and minimize exposure to lands that are climate hazards (e.g., steep and unstable slopes, flood zones, coastal areas subject to sea level rise and storm surges, etc.). From a mitigation perspective, city plans that promote more compact development patterns can create supportive conditions for alternative energy systems (e.g. district energy) thus reducing energy consumption and its associated greenhouse gas emissions. As urban populations increase the world over, effective land use planning will become more and more important. This is especially true in the developing world where municipalities have less control over development processes. Slum developments and informal settlements present a major challenge, as they are often located in areas that are vulnerable to multiple climate hazards. Forwardthinking planning processes that acknowledge climate change can help direct development and growth to more suitable areas and better manage growth now and into the future. Environmental planning: Planners play an important role in protecting and enhancing urban green spaces. In particular, planners can help relocate, minimize and/or prohibit development (planned and informal) out of environmentally sensitive areas like estuaries, wetlands and important coastal habitats like mangrove forests. Keeping development out of these areas can help improve a city’s protection from riverine flooding and erosion, as well as marine storm surges and erosion. In addition to the climate protection and environmental benefits of these actions (i.e., habitat protection), other climate benefits can be realized, too. For example, urban green spaces can help cool the air, provide shade and reduce the amount of solar heat absorbing areas to help limit urban heat island effects. Green spaces also help act as carbon sinks to help mitigate carbon emissions. The increasing pressure that growing cities will mount on the environment they rely upon necessitates significant attention from planners. In order to alleviate this pressure, planners must consider how the environment that surrounds urban development will be affected as both populations and associated liquid and solid waste increase. 36 PLANNING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE:
Climate Change: A Review Storm water management: Planners are critical players in improving a city’s storm water management infrastructure that, in turn, is a key determinant in how well a city can handle and adapt to climate-related rainfall and flooding episodes. While some development is unavoidable in climate change hazard risk areas, planners can help regulate and control building forms and design (e.g., keeping living areas above flood hazard levels) and work to include stormwater management features in these areas (e.g., infiltration areas, pervious surfaces, impoundment areas). Urban planners, of course, are also key players in determining the location and scale of river dikes and other “hard” flood management systems. Building and site design: Local land use plans and development laws can be used to regulate the location, type and scale of development in climate hazard areas. Numerous siting and design features can be encouraged and/or required to make buildings more adaptable to climate impacts. For example, living areas can be required to be located at a suitable height so that they are above flood hazard levels. Tree planting and other sun shading can be required to reduce urban heat island effects and improve occupant safety and well-being. Buildings can also be designed to withstand other potential climate change effects, including more episodes of storm-related high winds. From a mitigation perspective, planners can encourage and promote more environmentally friendly design building design to reduce energy and water consumption. As the role of urban planners increasingly crosses into other urban policy realms (e.g., social planning, local economic development, health, transportation, etc.), there are many other areas where city planner can support, and in many cities are already supporting, cross- and multi-sectoral urban sustainability planning activities and related climate change planning activities. As identified in the Vancouver Declaration, planning for urban sustainability (or new urban planning) is engaging multiple actors, communities and stakeholders. In addition to the more traditional physical planning activities featured above, planners are increasingly supporting some of the following social, cultural and economic policy and program areas (as process stakeholders, technical supporters, policy developers, project and policy implementers, etc.). Transportation Plans and Projects: The transportation sector is typically responsible for about 1/3 of energy-related GHG production. Private automobiles account for a significant proportion of that activity. As automobile ownership rates climb in developing countries and urban development continues to sprawl, further separating the distances between the places people live, work and shop, this trend will continue to rise. Planners can help mitigate GHG emissions by working to reduce vehicle miles traveled and urban congestion through strategies such as compact, high density, mixed-use development. Strategically planned development can also direct development to areas less vulnerable to climate change impacts. A Strategic, Values-based Approach for Urban Planners 37
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Planning for Climate Change - UN-Habitat

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