Mariyam Shany Ahmed (0726648)

PROFESSIONAL PLANNING PRACTICE (AUP 4265) ASSIGNMENT 2

How can planners address the issue of climatic change when planning for the future of their cities?
Introduction Climate change poses clear, catastrophic threats. We may not agree on the extent, but we certainly can't afford the risk of inaction - Rupert Murdoch Murdoch,R. makes an excellent point. Climate change, though met with a wide range of opinions and critics as well as advocators and numerous scientific research is a reality that the entire world faces today. According to researchers, climate change has been going on since the earth first existed but had been accelerated by human activities starting from the industrial revolution until now.

The worlds leading earth and climate scientists are saying that, the harmful effects of global warming on daily life are already showing up and within a couple of decades hundreds of millions of people will not have enough water, while tens of millions of other people will be flooded out of their homes from rising temperatures and sea levels in other parts of the globe (Associated Press, 2007 based on IPPC report). It is inherent that climate change and its impact on cities and livelihoods need to be addressed immediately to ensure that our cities are not the recipients of natural disasters and other climate change related impacts.

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Where do planners come in? According to UN-HABITAT, global climate change awareness has been around for some time, but it is only in recent years that cities and urban planners have begun to consider the environment in their planning of competitive and livable cities. As we can clearly see now, many countries have begun to address climate change issues through the formulation of national climate change policies with measures for adaptation and mitigation. UN-HABITAT also highlights that an increase in the use of terms such as environmental sustainability is seen in development plans in recent years.

The Rotterdam UN-HABITAT workshop in 2009 thus emphasized on the role that town planners play in mitigating climate change. Research shows there is a growing consensus that appropriate urban planning approaches and related urban growth models are key to mitigating and adapting to climate change. The growing number of extreme weather events of the last few years, and their dramatic impact on the fragile urban infrastructures and on settlements in risk-prone areas, illustrate the urgency of reducing the risk through better planning practices.

Blakely E. J. (2007) points out that there is little urban planning research combining scientific knowledge about climate change and its likely effects on the planning and design of cities. He questions what planners can do, to mitigate and adapt to these natural processes regardless of their cause. Blakelys (2007) recommendations thus center around encouraging formulation of integrative research frameworks to develop new and robust public policies, urban design guidelines and implementation measures. He further stresses the needs for newer planning legislations to include impact assessments for future development applications in urban areas to reduce climate change risks.

Yet in most parts of our world, particularly in developing countries, planners and local decision makers generally lack the tools and means needed to make informed choices about the climate change

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implications of local growth and redevelopment decisions, or to measure their effects (Condon P.M., Cavens D., & Miller N., 2009).

Planning for climate change in Southeast Asia

Yuen B. & Kong L. (2009)s paper on climate change and planning in Southeast Asia identifies the lack of climate change initiative developing countries in this region have taken towards planning cities to address climate change. According to their study, Southeast Asia is one of the worlds fastest growing regions in terms of population and urban growth. Scientific assessment indicates that the coastlines of Southeast Asia are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Thus is it clear that climate change challenge is real and urgent in Southeast Asia. While Southeast Asia is one of the worlds least urbanized regions, its urban population is growing at unprecedented rates, 1.75 times faster than the worlds urban population. Statistics show that more than 45 per cent of people in Southeast Asia lives in urban areas and is projected to increase to 56.5 percent by 2030 (United Nations, 2004).

Yuen B. & Kong L. (2009)s study shows that the economic growth pioneered in Singapore through industrialization and increases in foreign direct investment, is now occurring in the second tier countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, and more recently, Vietnam. In many cases, the industrialization-led economic growth based on the development approach of grow first, clean up later has been synchronous with rapid urban population growth, land use change and major environmental problems, including pollution and contamination of inland and coastal waters, deforestation and overexploitation of water resources and biodiversity, eroding the regions environmental sustainability.

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Mariyam Shany Ahmed (0726648)

According to the Asia Times, 26 May 2007, Southeast Asia is possibly one of the most vulnerable areas in the global climate-change scenarios. Extreme climate events are expected to occur more frequently. However, after the implementation of the Agenda 21, more initiatives have been taken to address environmental impact of development and creating better awareness in planning cities for the future. Many cities in Southeast Asia, including medium-sized cities such as Penang in Malaysia now have a sustainable development initiative.

Considering the slow adoption of more climate change relevant planning approaches, this is an encouraging development, especially as Roberts and Kanaley (2006, p437) pointed out, Asias future is urban. It is in developing sustainable cities. In this regard, ASEAN provides an important intergovernmental framework for regional cooperation on climate change and sustainable development. A milestone was the ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Sustainability signed by the country leaders at ASEAN 40th anniversary and 13th ASEAN Summit (Nov 2007) in Singapore. The Declaration recognized the need to encourage the development of an ASEAN Climate Change Initiative and support the development of environmentally sustainable cities.

What can planners do?

Some analysts indicate that planning and urban design measures can substantially reduce the number and distance of vehicle trips by organizing human activity in compact communities with a range of housing types, providing reliable transit to and from employment, and placing services within easy walking distance of homes (Condon, P. M., C av e n s, D., & Mi l l e r, N. ,2009). For example, Ewing et al. (2008) found that miles driven are reduced by between 20 and 40 percent in compact urban developments compared to miles driven in the auto-dependent suburbs.

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Blakely, E. J. (2007)s views supports this finding as he summarizes just how closely climate change and planning of cities are related. According to him, cities have essentially three roles in the climate change arena. The first is to reduce the risk of climate change; second, developing risk profiles for the range of risk they face based on geography and geology of their location, and finally, developing strategies for adapting to climate change on a macro and micro-scale.

This goes to show that planners need to not only address climate change through design and policy making, but also look at the broader picture to ensure that plans are sustainable both on built and natural environments as well as address aspects ranging from national and regional scales to local and community level, particularly in developing countries such as Malaysia.

UN-HABITAT (2007)s conference on climate change mitigation highlights the fact that developing countries are a stakeholder in climate change mitigation that needs special emphasis as they are currently emitting 25% of the Green House Gases (GHG) emissions. The report further elaborates that with their resource limitations these countries are unable to take the necessary steps needed for mitigation, thus needing support in their efforts and to be given incentives to use sustainable technologies and practices during this high growth period. It is clear that if such countries plan correctly, they can avoid the mistakes made by the developed countries. With proper planning of their cities, a joint effort between planning professionals, local governments and communities, they will be able to develop sustainably from the outset and avoid having to restructure and rebuild in the future as well as reduce catastrophic impacts caused by climatic change.

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Other stakeholders planners need to work closely with

Governments role in climate change mitigation is different at different government levels. At the national level, they must create policies, incentives and disincentives that encourage sustainable urban development. They must also incorporate environmental education/training in all elements of the educational system, from primary school through to adult education programs (continuing education). The local levels role includes enforcing policies and regulations (ex: restricting urban sprawl). It is the local government who must set the future growth strategies through urban planning (UN_HABITAT, 2007).

Research in this subject also shows consensus on the importance on the private sector in planning of cities that are sustainable and responsive to changes and impacts of climate change. UN-HABITAT suggests that public sector must continually research and create alternatives to the harmful technologies and products and services currently on the market.

What are the characteristics of a well planned city with climate change mitigation?

Several key characteristics of sustainable, climate change resilient cities were expressed during the Rotterdam (2009) conference. According to them, better planned cities would be more energy efficient, in particular when combined with a push for green buildings and related building codes, sustainable transport, energy and waste management and the greening of cities. Such cities would have urban planning and urban design that have the potential to reduce vulnerability to the different climate change related hazards such as floods, sea-level rise, and landslides. The conference recommends new planning practices that can help mainstream climate change considerations into urban development processes. For new urban planning and design practices to be efficient, it is said that they will need to find a way to incorporate the current urban realities of informal urban growth and slum development,
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while pursuing a pro-poor approach in a global context of financial crisis and food insecurity.

Are young planning professionals ready to tackle this issue?

According to the Global Report on Human Settlements 2009 by UN-Habitat, one third of planning schools worldwide has taught climate change in their curricula. It is however rather unfortunate that most of these planning schools are from developed countries while their counterparts less developed countries are still lagging behind (Rafee Majid. , Foziah Johar, , & A. Hafiz Hardy, 2011).

Of the 28 planning schools in Southeast Asia, apparently none has a teaching program on climate change. Education on planning for climate change is urgently required. Very few are undertaking research on sustainable urban development. Much of the existing climate research is oriented around technologies, for example, air quality, water and energy, such as fuel cells, bio-energy and bio-fuels.

According to a study done in 2011 by Malaysian researchers, it was found that due to the vagueness of climate change education in the current curricula in most Malaysian planning schools, several problems has arisen that need to be dealt with. Firstly, students are expected and required to figure out for themselves on the details of climate change including how urban planning works in mitigating climate change, while at the same time, lecturers do little to explain or elaborate extensively due to lack of indepth knowledge on the subject, which is deemed new in Malaysian planning schools.

This is an aspect that needs to be addressed immediately to ensure that future planners of this country are well equipped to ensure their planning practices will address the pressing issues of climate change in a more educated and comprehensive manner.

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Mariyam Shany Ahmed (0726648)

Conclusion A speaker at one of the UN-HABITAT workshops pointed out we should not expect planners to be super heroes as on the one hand they are overloaded and on the other hand their formal responsibilities are limited. For planners to be able to plan effectively and sustainably taking into consideration the effects of climate change and its impending impacts, a formal planning process needs to be in place and the adaptive capacity of individuals needed to be promoted.

Planners need to interact very closely with communities and need to take on conflict resolution, which in fact should be their core competency. Planners also need to take responsibility and should see planning as a creative skill. It was not only the planners that shoulder this responsibility but also local governments and local communities that need to work together to ensure that the cities and town they live in are resilient to disasters caused by climate change impacts and sustainable in the long run.

Planning is of course no use if its implementation is not done properly. Plans that reflect sustainable development principles carry no meaning if they are not implemented well. There is an urgent need to strengthen the institutional capabilities that are prerequisite to effective plan implementation. More attention needs to be given to the functioning of the planning system, to legislation, regulations and processes that are out of date or are insufficiently reformed to be able to deal with the major challenges such as climate change in this 21st century.

The famous words by Gandhi We must be the change we wish to see in the world are certainly wise words of advice to live by. It reminds us that we as planners need to plan ahead, effectively and sustainably to enjoy a better, safer future.

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References :

1. 2.

Blakely, E. J. (2007). Urban planning for climate ch. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Condon, P. M., C av e n s, D., & Mi l l e r, N. (2009). Urban planning tools for climate change mitigation. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

3. 4. 5.

UN-HABITAT. (2007). Un-habitat and climate change mitigation UN-HABITAT. (2009). Workshop on climate change and urban planning. Rotterdam Rafee Majid. , Foziah Johar, , & A. Hafiz Hardy, (2011). Urban planning education and climate change: A brief survey of curriculum adaptation in malaysian universities.

6.

Wahlgren, I. (2007). Climate change in urban planning. Finland's National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change

7.

Yuen, B., & Kong, L. (2009). Climate change and urban planning in southeast asia. Cities and Climate Change, Volume 2(no:3)

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