Resilient planning will help cities to adapt to climate change

Mar 26, 2013 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
Climate change will, no doubt, affect all countries and, to different degrees, both rural and urban areas. Cities in developing countries, including Georgetown, which is four feet below the normal high tide and an additional two feet below spring tide, remains particularly vulnerable to this environmental phenomenon. However, this vulnerability presents opportunities for new approaches to planning, development and investments in designing and implementing appropriate infrastructure and facilities that would allow them to adapt to environmental change.
Cities are centres of population and economically and socially valuable assets and services.  As a result, both the size and cost of impacts, whether climate-related or natural disaster-related, tend to be disproportionately greater than in the more dispersed rural areas. Cities also tend to have large informal settlements (squatting arrangements) built with little care about official zoning and building requirements.
Cities often have high concentrations of solid and liquid waste, large areas of impermeable surfaces such as roads and concreted yards that accelerate run-off and disrupt natural drainage patterns. Also, the problem of excessive use of plastic, Styrofoam and other non-biodegradables affect the efficiency of drainage systems.
However, the population concentration and infrastructure of cities can facilitate the implementation of some adaptation and disaster-prevention policies and measures.
Anticipated climate change impacts on cities have initiated change in the way urban infrastructure is designed and located, populations are settled, and how city services are coordinated and delivered.
The primary climate change impacts include rise in sea level, temperature rise, increased variability in precipitation patterns, and an increase in the frequency and/or severity of extreme weather events.
As a consequence, climate change adaptation and disaster risk management require that the resilience of cities be improved. Reinforcing existing urban infrastructure and designing future urban services can assist city authorities to be better prepared to deal with this environmental change. This necessitates pertinent changes including adaptation and preparedness in sustainable urban growth.
City planning must now be based not only on historical patterns, but on predictions and projections of future impacts decades from now. Climate change will seriously impact the physical basis (such as land and water) for the provision of urban services as well as the location of populations.
When climate change adaptation and disaster management become integrated into urban management, urban development and infrastructure will become more sustainable.
Also, reducing the carbon footprint of cities is a serious city development imperative. City authorities need to consider and support renewable energy policies and investment opportunities as part of urban infrastructure development. Creating and implementing regulations and different incentives on transport, industrial and power generation emissions, and efficiency standards are required to increase the use of renewables, alternative fuels and alternative transport modalities.
Investing in environmental improvements will require building capacity in Local Government bodies to understand, appreciate and support energy efficiency and green building development. Urban environmental management includes water conservation, solid waste collection and disposal, air and water pollution control, and sanitation. These affect the carbon footprint of cities.
Given the unpredictability of certain events, disaster risk management should be part of proactive national and municipal planning to design and implement investments in adaptation measures and natural disaster prevention.
The practical use of climate change impact assessments and projections as part of a city’s information base can guide future growth requirements while also building public participation in adaptation measures and practices. The development of best practices addressing climate change adaptation, including those requiring cross- border or trade-related measures will also be important challenges for regional cooperation among developing cities.
The investment requirements for designing and building high- and medium-rise, mixed-use urban structures incorporating environmentally-friendly building standards, are an important part of enhancing a city’s resiliency. Such structures clearly represent an important change in the current trends of urbanization in most developing countries.
Informed local government strategies can support urban service delivery through the efficiencies that resilient planning brings. Well-organized and effectively managed cities that integrate measures such as improved land use planning, public transportation, improved water and sanitation systems, and updated building standards can effectively reduce GHG emissions, build resiliency to climate impacts, and encourage improved health and sustainable development.
Adaptation investments range from public education and awareness, to economic and other incentives to address climate-induced constraints, to production and livelihoods, to alternative settlements and new infrastructure.
Resilient cities are those that are effectively planned to manage their hazards for continued growth and those that employ practices that will allow them to successfully adapt to climate change.
Royston King
Executive Director
Echo

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