Urban Planning: Rethinking Cities in a Warming World

Smart urban planning is essential for ensuring cities can adapt to climate change while enabling them to remain liveable today and resilient in the future. Cities such as Rotterdam, Singapore, Copenhagen, and Vancouver employ practical green infrastructure and integrate low-carbon development, demonstrating how urban planning can reduce emissions and improve livability.

by Aminu Jibril Sufyan

In cities and urban areas, the risks people and assets face due to climate change and its effects have intensified. As the percentage of the global population living in cities continues to climb, there is an urgent need to rethink how cities are planned and built. Climate-friendly urban planning can play a key role in helping cities both mitigate and adapt to climate change, ensuring cities remain liveable today and resilient in the future. 

Modern urban planning emerged as a response to the rapid speed at which cities grew in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries [1]. For this reason, its early agenda focused on the gravest issues concerning fast-growing industrial cities, including the organisation of land, sanitation, and public health. Over time, planning expanded to incorporate transportation systems, housing developments, and economic growth [2]. But now the scope of urban planning has broadened further to consider climate resilience and environmental sustainability as well as social equity [2].

For effective urban planning, governments play an important and multifaceted role. In fact, urban planning requires massive contributions from different levels of government, private developers, environmentalists, and local communities [3]. These roles could include technical experts in geospatial analysis, civil engineers, and environmental scientists [4]. 

With population growth and the increase in urbanisation, the need for planners to introduce climate-sensitive policies and innovative technologies that protect vulnerable communities from the impacts of climate change [5]. This transition, however, requires not only technical expertise, but forward-looking governance towards long-term climate goals [4].

Urban Planning for Resilience: Key Strategies to Mitigate Climate Risks

From the city of Rotterdam, which has revolutionised urban flood control, to Singapore, where greenery is not just pretty but designed to be part of the solution to climate change, cities worldwide are finding innovative ways to address and manage climate change risks. 

Rotterdam’s flood-control innovations are an excellent example of climate-friendly urban planning. The city’s ‘Water Squares’ serve as open public spaces when the weather is good and transform into reservoirs when it rains, reducing the risk of flooding while maintaining scenic public areas [7]. 

Meanwhile, Singapore’s network of canals and parks naturally cool urban spaces, exemplifying the integration of green spaces to reduce the health impacts of higher temperatures [8]. Additionally, Singapore’s widely advertised ‘City in a Garden’ project reduces heat and absorbs rainfall, combining sustainability with aesthetic urban ideals [6]. The success of these strategies demonstrates the potential to create cities that are both resilient to climate change and lively, thriving places to live.

Cities are much more than just engines of economic growth; they are vibrant hubs of culture, education, and environmental activism. While each city has its own identity and unique challenges, they all face similar threats from climate change – whether it’s floods, heatwaves, or poor air quality from wildfires. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to these problems, but what’s encouraging is that hundreds of city leaders have committed to confronting the climate crisis in networks such as C40. This growing sense of shared responsibility shows that urban resilience is not just a local effort – it’s part of a global movement toward a more sustainable future. 

Integrating Low-Carbon Development in Urban Planning

Cities are also beginning to adopt low-carbon development strategies as part of their urban planning efforts, which aim to reduce emissions while promoting economic growth. Some examples of low-carbon development strategies include switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, energy-efficient buildings, and sustainable transportation systems (e.g. electric buses and trains). Copenhagen’s commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2025 is a good example of how the infusion of renewable energy into urban infrastructure can make a huge difference. The city is building the world’s largest district heating system by substituting fossil fuels with biomass [9]. 

In most cities, transportation is the largest source of pollution. To address this, some cities are rebranding their transportation modes as socially responsible and affordable alternatives to fossil fuels. For example, Copenhagen has set a global precedent with its extensive cycling infrastructure – nearly 50% of the city’s population commute by bicycle. Similarly, Vancouver has  provided  more  electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure  and has brought in initiatives to incentivise individuals  to buy  EVs. These  measures illustrate  the significant role that city transportation planning can play in reducing  carbon emissions [10].

Conclusion

Resilient and low-carbon urban development provides dual benefits by protecting cities from climate risks and reducing emissions, resulting in healthier, more sustainable environments. However, challenges such as funding gaps, retrofitting older infrastructure, ensuring social equity, and coordinating stakeholders remain unresolved. 

The importance of urban planning in our response to climate change has never been greater. City planners and policymakers must act decisively to overcome these obstacles and create future-proof cities capable of withstanding climate challenges.

References

[1] Hall P., 2014. Cities of tomorrow: An intellectual history of urban planning and design since 1880. John Wiley & Sons. Accessed on 28/09/2024:  https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=79EsAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR12&dq=Cities+of+tomorrow:+An+intellectual+history+of+urban+planning+and+design+since+1880&ots=hM414ci7wG&sig=Si4M0UlqdwFeyxB4t6IpAh7uR28&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Cities%20of%20tomorrow%3A%20An%20intellectual%20history%20of%20urban%20planning%20and%20design%20since%201880&f=false
[2] Satterthwaite D., 2007. The transition to a predominantly urban world and its underpinnings. Accessed on 28/09/2024 https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qpop44zz-k8C&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=The+transition+to+a+predominantly+urban+world+and+its+underpinnings&ots=vfzJXrxAht&sig=9kn9Tm3MpnHpSGmH1YUjwzhUtLw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=The%20transition%20to%20a%20predominantly%20urban%20world%20and%20its%20underpinnings&f=false
[3] UN-Habitat. World Cities Report 2020: The value of sustainable urbanization. UN. Accessed on 29/09/2024: https://unhabitat.org/world-cities-report-2020-the-value-of-sustainable-urbanization
[4] CHANGE OC., 2007. Intergovernmental panel on climate change. World Meteorol Organ. 52:1-43. Accessed on 29/09/2024: https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2001/04/doc3d.pdf
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[6] Tan PY, Wang J, Sia A., 2013. Perspectives on five decades of the urban greening of Singapore cities. 32:24–32. accessed on 29/09/2024, https://ugl.sg/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/perspectives-on-five-decades-of-the-urban-greening-of-singapore.pdf
[7] Van der Brugge R, De Graaf R., 2010. Linking water policy innovation and urban renewal: the case of Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Water Policy. 12(3):381–400. Accessed on 29/09/2024: https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2010.037
[8] Liao KH. The socio-ecological practice of building blue-green infrastructure in high-density cities: what does the ABC Waters Program in Singapore tell us? Socio-Ecological Pract Res [Internet]. 2019;1(1):67–81. Accessed on 29/09/2024: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-019-00009-3
[9] Hansen KB, Agger A., 2023. Copenhagen CO2 neutrality in 2025? A polycentric analysis of urban climate governance in Copenhagen 2006–2020. Environ Policy Gov. 33(3):288–300. Accessed on 29/09/2024: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eet.2030[10] Garas D, Collantes GO, Nicholas MA., 2016. City of Vancouver EV infrastructure strategy report. Accessed on 29/09/2024: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0w90c61t