References including examples of good practice in responding to the challenge of climate change mitigation and adaptation, are outlined here. Your suggestions for additional material would be very welcome! Please e-mail any and all suggestions for additions to IDN

Useful general sources of further information

C40 Cities - a group of the world's largest cities committed to tackling climate change. The website contains news and updates on current C40 programmes, information about each of the cities involved, and links to useful documents.

Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) launched at the G8 Summit in Hokkaido in 2008 and supported by DFID and DECC, this $6bn set of funds and programmes is aimed at driving global action to tackle the harmful effects of climate change in the world’s developing countries. The money is helping to promote clean technology, tackle unsustainable deforestation, and help developing countries to become more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) - a new initiative designed to support developing countries in tackling the challenges posed by climate change, launched in March 2010 by the UK government.

Competitive cities and climate change – a 2009 report from the OECD that illustrates how local involvement through “climate-conscious” urban planning and management can help achieve national climate goals and minimise tradeoffs between environmental and economic priorities; includes best practices principally from OECD member countries and certain non-member countries.

Framing the role of spatial planning in climate change – a useful overview paper, albeit focused on the UK, from Simin Davoudi at Newcastle University.

Hot Cities – a BBC documentary series that travels the world from Lagos to Los Angeles, from Shanghai to Surat, from Dhaka to Durban to see if our cites can adapt to climate change.

International Panel on Climate Change – includes access to the latest IPCC assessment report.

RICS Global Property Sustainability Survey, Q1 2010 - finds that implementation of sustainable real estate solutions is increasing across all global regions, with ‘Emerging Asia’ reporting the greatest average level of sustainable improvements.

Seven ingredients for low carbon cities – press release from 45^th ISOCARP Congress, Portugal, October 2009; includes an emphasis on integrated, inclusive planning.

The future climate for development - Forum for the Future, funded by DFID, undertook a year-long project looking at the possible responses to climate change in low-income countries out to 2030; the report explores not only the direct environmental impacts of climate change, but also the social, political, psychological and economic shifts that it may cause.

The planning response to climate change – advice on better practice - although produced back in September 2004, this may still be a useful resource for planners new to climate change.

International sustainable planning/built environment projects

China

China deserves special mention here because its cities are developing so fast - the World Bank reports that by 2015 half of the world’s new building construction will take place in China. Buildings currently consume at least 28% of total energy. Projects include:

• Tianjin Eco-city - the governments of China and Singapore are jointly developing this project, designed to be practical, replicable and scalable model for sustainable urban development for other cities in China. See also http://www.tianjinecocity.gov.sg/
• Jinshan - an emerging ‘one planet’ mixed use community, aiming to become zero carbon.
• New green building practices in China – this site hosts a series of seminar videos from the Asia Society in 2009, including one on ‘Master Planning and Urban Design’
• ZED (Zero Energy Development) Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010 which includes mention of Bill Dunster’s vision of low carbon urban regeneration in China<</li>

India

A rapidly growing ‘developing’ country, the world’s largest democracy has fast expanding cities and shrinking Himalayan glaciers:

• Article on green buildings in India including details of BCIL’s five-acre award-winning T-Zed, or Towards Zero-Energy Development.
• Sustainable building design in Gurgaon: strengthening capacities for planning and implementation – an EC-funded initiative aiming to improve the urban environment in Gurgaon district of Haryana through the introduction of sustainability measures in building design.

Middle East

MasdarCity, Abu Dhabi – planned to be the first zero carbon zero waste community, the first phase is due for completion in 2013. Features include a mass transit system below pedestrian level with a maximum of 200m to the nearest transport links; a high built density to provide solar shading; ‘wind towers’ for natural ventilation; power generation from extensive use of solar PV and renewable power stations outside the city (solar thermal, solar PV, wind, energy from waste); and orientation to ensure optimum balance of sunlight and shade. This is a particularly interesting and ambitious project so a number of hyperlinks are provided:

• Masdar City homepage - includes overview ‘Masdar Plan’ promotional video
• Foster and Partners Masdar development page
• Speech by Lord Foster on Masdar
• BBC report on Masdar
• Building magazinearticle on Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, the first building to be constructed in the carbon neutral city.

Europe

Eco-town report: Learning from Europe’s ecotowns – from the UK Homes and Communities Agency

Malmo, Sweden – a famous example of sustainable planning at Western Harbour, Malmo; see also this Guardian article

Hammarby Sjöstad, Sweden – an eco-town development to the south of Stockholm city centre.

Vauban, Germany – a suburb of Freiburg, this is another famous sustainable planning example; see also research paper on Freiburg’s transport planning and Guardian article

Samsø Island, Denmark- the Danish island community of Samsø has become carbon-neutral without any tax breaks, grants or other benefits. Thanks to conservation, wind power and peer pressure, the island has transformed from a consumer of coal and oil into an exporter of alternative energy.

UK case studies - see the RTPI Climate Change Compendium on this web-site and Islington Green Building case-studies. 

North America

See Green Cities: Urban Planning & Climate Change, a video from energyenvironment.tv of the House Select Global Warming/Energy Independence Committee, June 2008. 

See more international case studies of sustainable cities.  

Low energy cooling of buildings – international examples

There are many thematic areas in which planners can make a difference, from ensuring sustainable design of individual buildings to master-planning sustainable growth of settlements to developing regional and national climate change strategies. An example: given that summer time temperatures are projected to increase in many countries with climate change, particularly in ‘urban heat islands’, the delivery of naturally cooled buildings through planning will become increasingly critical. If buildings are not properly future proofed they will have to rely instead on increased use of air conditioning for cooling, which will increase energy demands (and CO2 emissions), make energy outages more likely and exacerbate the heat island effect. International examples of passively cooled buildings include the Eastgate Centre in Harare (Zimbabwe), an award-winning school in Burkina Faso and traditional buildings in Iran. 

For further information on low energy cooling see Islington Council’s low-energy cooling best practice guide

A caveat: While there are many impressive planning projects going on around the world, and planners clearly have an important role to play in helping to mitigate and adapt to climate change, it is important to realise that there are limits to the role of planning in addressing climate change – planning is only one mechanism for responding to climate change, which should be used in combination with a range of other policy, legislative and funding mechanisms, including taxation, regulation of markets, subsidies and specific programmes. Effective coordination of policy, legislation and funding across sectors is critical.

Author:

Judith Eversley

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

07-Sep-10

Categories:

 

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