How Urban Planning Can Help in Fighting Climate Change?

by samuelelupidi | Sep 6, 2024 | The Urban Media Lab

 Cities, the most promising place 

Cities are nowadays increasingly attracting and represent the place where many people try their best to succeed. But in this scenario lies a big paradox which in this historical moment sounds promising and scary at the same time. Cities represent the 80% of the Global GDP (World Bank, 2023), and cause 75% of the global CO2 emissions with transport and building sectors being the greatest contributors (UN environment Programme, 2017). 

With environmental issues becoming more pressing and people waiting for a solution, policymakers opted for the ‘green’ or ‘sustainable city’ as a viable planning and policy solution (Angelo & Wachsmuth, 2015). The term ‘planning’ here refers to the action of organizing the urban context and expresses the necessity to incorporate sustainability practices into urban planning. 

Why urban planning is a solution? 

Historically, urban planning has always encompassed the philosophy behind land use and city development. But how does this relationship help achieve the ultimate goal of contrasting climate change, and how are these two fields specifically connected? 

What is urban planning? 

There is not one exclusive definition, because this subject connects with various scopes. Nevertheless, in a broader sense it is possible to say: 

“Town and country planning is the set of guidelines and public instruments for governing the transformation of the territory, both in the area and in urban areas. Strongly interrelated with economic planning, it is aimed at achieving a better quality of living, through a rational, fair and sustainable use of resources so as to guarantee the well-being of the community over time.” (Cappuccitti, 2014)

Beyond technicalities, it is important to imagine space as a resource and its organization as a political process able to shape new social relations. For example, Raphaël Fischler says that: 

“Urban planning is the collective management of urban development, the use of purposeful deliberation to give shape to human settlements. It is the mobilization of community will and the design of strategies to create, improve, or preserve the environment in which we live. This environment is at once physical (natural and built) and cultural (social, economic, and political).” (Fischler, 2011)

This definition is particularly relevant because it links the physical space with how people use it. This connection is crucial for two reasons: first, redefining space involves people’s participation; and second, the design process not only adapts to people’s needs but can also influence them, creating different patterns and encouraging various behaviours. This aspect is essential for promoting sustainable attitudes, as seen in concepts like the 15-minute city, which leverages urban density to reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to transportation. 

Considering this capability to influence changes and attitudes, which are the drivers that can trigger a sustainability change in cities? 

Planning and Sustainability 

Broadly speaking, measures are organized into two main categories: mitigation and adaptation strategies. These climate change measures are integral to planning strategies and must be integrated at an urban level to reduce the negative impact on citizens and infrastructure. 

Respectively: “Mitigation action lowers the GHG concentrations via reducing GHG emissions and adding carbon sinks, to meet the objective of reducing the pace of climate change and frequency of extreme events.” (Zhao, 2018) While “Adaptation refers to the regulating strategies employed under actual or expected climatic stimulation; their objective being to mitigate climate change impacts and promote adaptive capacity.” (Zhao, 2018) 

Usually cities struggle with heatwaves, a problem that can be tackled by increasing the trees coverage which is a perfect example of an adaptation measure. Instead increasing the production of renewable energy and avoiding fossil fuels, reduce emissions and pollution performing a mitigation action on climate change. 

For example, the study by Muñoz-Pizza et al. in ‘Linking Climate Change to Urban Planning through Vulnerability Assessment: The Case of Two Cities at the Mexico-US Border’ highlights how certain types of settlements are more susceptible to heatwaves. Additionally, the lack of political action in addressing these issues increases the likelihood that specific areas of the city, along with their residents, will be more vulnerable to climate change than others (Muñoz-Pizza, 2023). 

A second point of contact between the areas lies in the democratic management embedded in the planning decision making process. Meerow and Woodruff in ‘Seven principles of strong climate change planning’ exhort planners to encourage new research and move towards the involvement of communities and the general public, who are increasingly aware of climate change issues in our time. (Meerow & Wordruff, 2019) In this sense sustainability planning strategies represent an opportunity to foster a democratic approach. 

Main takeaways and strategies 

Now that the measures have been defined, the challenge lies in the approach chosen to implement and scale them. Long and Rice, in ‘From Sustainable Urbanism to Climate Urbanism,’ emphasize the importance of prioritizing ‘climate urbanism,’ a policy orientation that promotes cities as the most viable and appropriate sites for climate action. This approach also aims to protect the physical and digital infrastructures of urban economies from climate change hazards (Long & Rice, 2019). 

However, strategies can vary significantly during the policy application phase, making it challenging to address different issues effectively. A viable pathway that integrates multilevel action within cities has been outlined by Francisco Estrada in ‘A Global Economic Assessment of City Policies to Reduce Climate Change Impacts.’ Estrada develops a strategy that effectively addresses the challenge of measuring and mitigating impacts without solely focusing on growth-oriented decisions. This approach prioritizes investment in reducing carbon emissions—which leads to lower temperatures—and emphasizes the economic productivity of cities to safeguard urban systems from climate change effects (Estrada, 2017). 

In conclusion, an organized strategy that correctly connects local city-level actions with broader targets offers a viable way forward. It is crucial to reiterate that securing urban infrastructures is fundamental to prevent disruptions in the economic benefits they generate. 

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Bibliography 

World Bank. ‘Urban Development’. Text/HTML, 3 April 2023. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/overview 

Angelo, Hillary, and David Wachsmuth. ‘Why Does Everyone Think Cities Can Save the Planet?’ Urban Studies 57, no. 11 (August 2020): 2201–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098020919081 

Mattogno, Claudia. Ventuno Parole per L’urbanistica, 2014 

Fischler, Raphaël. ‘Fifty Theses on Urban Planning and Urban Planners’. Journal of Planning Education and Research 32, no. 1 (September 2011): 107–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456×11420441 

Zhao, Chunli, Yan Yan, Chenxing Wang, Mingfang Tang, Gang Wu, Ding Ding, and Yang Song. ‘Adaptation and Mitigation for Combating Climate Change – From Single to Joint’. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability 4, no. 4 (April 2018): 85–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/20964129.2018.1466632 

Muñoz-Pizza, Dalia M., Roberto A. Sanchez-Rodriguez, and Eduardo Gonzalez-Manzano. ‘Linking Climate Change to Urban Planning Through Vulnerability Assessment: The Case of Two Cities at the Mexico US Border’. Urban Climate 51 (September 2023): 101674. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2023.101674 

Meerow, Sara, and Sierra C. Woodruff. ‘Seven Principles of Strong Climate Change Planning’. Journal of the American Planning Association 86, no. 1 (2 January 2020): 39–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2019.1652108 

Long, Joshua, and Jennifer L Rice. ‘From Sustainable Urbanism to Climate Urbanism’. Urban Studies 56, no. 5 (April 2019): 992–1008. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098018770846 

Estrada, Francisco, Wouter Botzen, and Richard S.J. Tol. ‘A Global Economic Assessment of City Policies to Reduce Climate Change Impacts’. Nature Climate Change 7, no. 6 (May 2017): 403–6. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3301 

Smart and Sustainable Mobility. A multi-layered governance strategy

by samuelelupidi | May 28, 2024 | The Urban Media Lab

 The story behind pollution 

The modern world requires speed, adaptability, and precision. All these three adjectives are not meant to be a statement for people, they are more suitable for a car advertisement. From the beginning, starting with Ford Model T by Henry Ford (1908), the urban context was profoundly changed by cars, at the point that old Victorian and Medieval streets left the scene to flat and bright highways (Ratti, Claudel, 2017). 

Car selling increased and the consequence was a reduced rate of investments in public transportation, benefitting instead new roads (Ratti. Claudel. 2017). Population in cities started to increase, and the esteems tell us that nearly 70% of the global population will live in cities by 2050 (Lyons, 2016). The end of the story is well known, beyond traffic congestion and its stressful consequences on the people, GHG emissions started to increase causing considerable problems for the resident population. 

The so-called smog, which can be revealed by the AQI Index, is becoming more and more integrated inside commonly used navigation app and sometimes influence the choice to get out. Nevertheless, GHG emissions in the transportation sector increased more in absolute terms than any other sector (EPA.gov, 2024). But a possible way out exists, or at least there is a space for debate on implementing it. The solution is called smart mobility and relies on the fact that: 

“Urban mobility of the future could be transformed, with developments such as: new forms of propulsion; new forms of vehicle control; changing business models of ownership and use; mobile technologies that equip and empower individuals; and opportunities to undertake activities without the need to travel. ‘Smart’ is the order of the day.” (Lyons, 2016)

Smart Mobility is: getting smart about mobility 

The previous quote pretty much says everything over the topic and specifically focus on the relation between a technology and its management. Governance therefore is a practice that should be taken more into account if we want to manage the issue. As a matter of fact, smart solution already exists, at least in the Global North. Think about scooters, e-bikes, e-cars, hybrid cars; and even the newest governance way, for example: car-pooling, car sharing, and all the sharing apps that let us ride a scooter or a bike. 

Which is the problem? The management and governance of these means has not been explored enough to say it is smart. How are we going to match citizens needs if there are only private players in this market aiming to make a profit, and we always follow the demand side? 

A multi layered governance of mobility 

To act in the governance field, it is needed to specify the level and the actors involved. As first, where do people go when there is too much congestion? The very basic and common commuting that everybody does each day is going to work or school. That is why usually there is congestion, and in the weekend, it feels like everybody disappeared from the city. 

To answer this problem people usually say that everybody should use bikes, walk, or get on the public bus to avoid causing more congestion. The thing is people have different attitudes towards the tasks they outperform, even if they seem to be similar. 

Therefore, there are three kinds of layers through which the problem can be tackled: Governance, Local zones-local attitudes, and finally the transportation mean. The mean is in the last position because of the problem already stated, it is not the kind of means you use, is the way you use it that causes problems. 

Governance 

There are a lot of strategies but sometimes they are poorly applied. Because people think about relying on what pollutes the less, instead they should focus on what is the management that better accommodates the needs of the people working/living there. Are they going to work in the same neighbourhood, or they are moving outside the city? Different needs, different means, different rules over the usage of it, this is the point. 

Local zones-local attitudes 

Each solution should be tailored on a very restricted group of people and on a defined area of interest. This goes in line with other policies related to sustainability, for example in the energy field. If a building has solar panels, a part of the energy can charge the e-vehicles that will be used by the community. A different thing may happen instead in a central part of the city where public transportation is pretty much available. 

The transportation mean 

Finally, after assessing the environment and having explored the existence of its peculiarities, as well as identifying common traits among the population residing there, it is possible to select the most suitable option. 

If there is an event, a problem, or something extraordinary, every citizen should be advised about it. Cities as London implemented a service of rapid communication and monitoring with citizens in order to speed up the resolution of a problem. The city of Rome instead suffers from an extended problem of lack of funding in the public transportation, and a common sense of affection to car (Barbieri, 2016). In this last case welcoming new so called smart means, will just create more congestion, and public transportation should be preferred instead. 

Reaching the Social Agreement 

Who is going to apply the strategy? Or connect with the people understanding their profile? The State has the right number of tools to apply the strategy. In this way it will be possible to capture the real public value coming from the new smart mobility (Docherty, 2017). 

In the future a study of the attitudes of the people towards transportation should be a primary input in the management of climate change. It is not less important than preventing heatwaves, it is rather part of the solution towards them. Therefore, needs and attitudes of the people could be mapped and updated the moment they change so to better optimize space and mobility. 

The State should hold information regarding the home-to-work journey of citizens taking into account their needs. The ones who can only go by car could be allowed, while those who benefit from public transportation or other sharing services (for instance if they have solar panels) could organize their journey on a different basis. A more organized city, with the right amount of space for everybody, is less congested, less polluted, and happier. 

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Bibliography 

Barbieri, Lorenzo. ‘Prossima fermata: adattamento: trasporti pubblici urbani e cambiamenti climatici a Roma: il caso del trasporto di superficie’. Doctoral Thesis, Università degli studi Roma Tre, 2016. https://arcadia.sba.uniroma3.it/handle/2307/5960 

Docherty, Iain, Greg Marsden, and Jillian Anable. ‘The Governance of Smart Mobility’. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 115 (September 2018): 114–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2017.09.012. 

Lyons, Glenn. ‘Getting Smart about Urban Mobility – Aligning the Paradigms of Smart and Sustainable’. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 115 (September 2018): 4–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2016.12.001. 

Matters, Transport for London | Every Journey. ‘Tube, Overground, Elizabeth Line, DLR & Tram Status Updates’. Transport for London. Accessed 11 May 2024. https://tfl.gov.uk/tube-dlr-overground/status/. 

Matters, Transport for London | Every Journey. ‘Tube, Overground, Elizabeth Line, DLR & Tram Status Updates’. Transport for London. Accessed 11 May 2024. https://tfl.gov.uk/tube-dlr-overground/status/. 

Ratti, Claudel. ‘La città di domani. Come le reti stanno cambiando il futuro urbano’. Giulio Einaudi editore s.p.a., Torino (September 2017). ISBN 978-88-06-22522-3. 

The World Air Quality Index. ‘World’s Air Pollution: Real-Time Air Quality Index’. waqi.info. Accessed 12 May 2024. https://waqi.info/. 

US EPA, OAR. ‘Carbon Pollution from Transportation’. Overviews and Factsheets, 10 September 2015.https://www.epa.gov/transportation-air-pollution-and-climate-change/carbon-pollution-transportation.