The half of the global population is living in rural (Villages) or urban areas (Cities and Metro Cities). By 2050, it will rise up to 2/3, as 1.4 million peoples like to move into urban areas.
Cities
consume around 70 per cent of global energy and generate a comparable amount of
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in both the short and long term, contributing to
climate change.
Furthermore,
these poorly planned cities are vulnerable to extreme climate events and
climate change-related phenomena. Cities can be divided into global megacities,
mature cities and emerging cities.
This
latter group provides the greatest opportunity for bringing about a significant
reduction in projected GHG emissions while maintaining strong growth.
Emerging
cities, like Delhi and Hyderabad and Pune in India and Rawalpindi in Pakistan,
are rapidly growing. The mid-sized cities that are expected to produce over the
25 % of global income growth – coupled with one-third of new GHG emissions –
over the coming two decades.
A proper planning for climate resilience can significantly reduce the social and environmental effects of urban growth. Building urban resilience includes scale of mitigation, adaptation and reducing the risk of Natural Disaster (climate-related disasters.)
Resilience
can best be understood through a holistic and dynamic approach, which
recognizes the complexity of rapidly growing urban areas and the uncertainty linked
with climate change.
It
is achieved by actions that build on each other over time and are guided by
three questions:
How
do the city's urban systems work?
How
will climate change impact these systems directly or indirectly?
Who
is most vulnerable to these impacts?
Tools of Urban Planning
for Climate Resilience Cities
There are a number of
Urban Planning approaches to decrease the emissions and ramp up the climate
resilience of growing cities. One, the 5C Model, is built on five pillars –
1. Compact urban growth,
2. Connected infrastructure,
3. Coordinated governance,
4. Connected/ integrated
land use planning and
5. Coordinated urban
development planning.
Compact Growth: -
Improving resource productivity (the efficiency of urban infrastructure and
services):
- This
pillar focuses on cost-effective investments in more efficient vehicles,
transport systems, buildings and small-scale renewable resources.
Investments have a short payback period and can be made in the building
sector (improving insulation design, lighting technologies and
appliances), the transport sector (more efficient vehicles, cleaner fuels
and public transport initiatives) and waste management (better recycling,
landfill gas capture and better composting).
Connected Infrastructure: - Well-planned
urban development and increased productivity are key drivers of both growth and
climate goals that require the collaboration of national and regional
governments and local leaders.
Approaches
include the development of national urbanization strategies, a special national
financing vehicle to support cities becoming more compact, connected and
coordinated, and redirecting existing infrastructure funding towards more
climate-resilient urban infrastructure development.
Coordinated Governance: -
Stronger policies and institutions: Productive and climate-resilient
cities require fundamental changes in policies and in the institutions that
govern and service them. Changes need to include:
- Strictly
enforcement of development control & regulations
- Adherence
of environment laws
- Reforms
to strategic planning and regulations across all levels of government
- Fuel
subsidy reform and disincentives to fossil-fuelled vehicle use
- Placing
a higher price on land than on buildings
- New
means of generating funds for smarter urban infrastructure and technology
- More
effective and accountable institutions in cities
A set of policies,
regulations, and administrative practices that Government agencies can adopt to
help cities become more resilient/able to recover quickly from natural
disasters while at the same time reducing future risk in the face of climate
change.
Concept
of Integrated Land use Planning: - Transport oriented
development (TOD): Land management encompasses all activities associated
with the management of land and natural resources that are required to achieve
sustainable development. The concept of land includes properties and natural
resources and thereby encompasses the total natural and build environment
Transport oriented
development planning reduces origin – destination trip length and consumption
of fuel by motor vehicles. As a result, greenhouse gas emission reduces.
It encourages efficient
use of connectivity and optimum utilization of land. Climate resilient city
development planning can achieved by integrated land use planning and transport
oriented development.
Nowadays the trend of
transport oriented development is prevailing in the all over the world and it
is also practiced in Asian countries also. Delhi Mumbai industrial corridor
(DMIC) is a livid example in India and now it is practiced in most of urban development
planning in the country.
Integration of transport
in land use planning will be fundamental to achieving climate resilience
cities. Well-planned settlements avoid the need for unnecessary trips - and
carbon - in the first place, and lead to maximal use of low-carbon modes of
travel such as public transport, walking and cycling.
Coordinated
Urban Development Planning: - Water shad management,
conservation of heritage & ecology and disaster management planning should
be incorporated in urban development planning.
These are the very
crucial aspect to mitigate the adverse effect of development on environment and
to plan climate resilience city. Water shad management helps to identify the
flooding areas in the city and to mitigate its impact in the especially
residential areas.
For example, few
residential areas in Ambala city is planned/ proposed in the floodplain of
Tangri river. That's why in rainy season, there is always a possibility of
flooding in these areas.
Like this preparing
development plans, planners must be more sensitive to heritage site and
eco-system of the urban environment. Disaster management plans must be
incorporated in the process of urban development planning to disaster risk
reduction and to boost climate resilience cities.
Guwahati – An Example of Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction
Yes it is proper futuristic approach
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