TRACK 5: ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE

Sustainable cities and climate action: the role of planning in addressing the environmental and climate challenge

Chairs:

• Osman Balaban, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara
• Doğan Dursun, Atatürk University, Erzurum
• Xiaolin LAO, University College Dublin
• Francesco Musco, IUAV Venice

No doubt that we are in the midst of a planetary crisis driven by various environmental challenges. Atmospheric temperatures are still rising and the earth’s climate has been drastically changing, loss of biodiversity and degradation of natural ecosystems are not slowing down, and desertification and pollution threaten the living of millions of households. The future of humanity is very much dependant on the addressing of global, regional and local environmental challenges, particularly climate change, as we have already reached the limits of the 1.5oC of global warming.

Cities are at the forefront of the planetary crisis, due not only to being the major drivers of environmental challenges such as GHGs emissions, habitat loses, excessive resource consumption, etc. but also due to being adversely impacted from these challenges. Many cities today are suffering from such climate change impacts as rising sea levels, heatwaves, flooding, and the shortage of the key life support systems like food, water and energy. As key players in both contributing to and combating environmental challenges, cities also hold immense potential for driving transformative actions for creating sustainable and climate resilient futures. As being closely located to the sources and outputs of a range of environmental issues, cities help develop innovative policies, actions and strategies that reflect the complexity of urban environments and the diversity of urban populations.

We invite researchers, practitioners, policy- and decision-makers, and students, who deal with planning, design and management of urban areas, to contribute to the discussions on addressing the planetary crisis at the local level. In particular, this track aims to bring together forward-thinking solutions that tackle various environmental hazards and risks faced by urban areas, while promoting sustainable, low-carbon and climate resilient urban development.

We encourage proposals that engage with the following themes:

• Planning for Climate Adaptation: Innovative approaches for cities to adapt to climate change with particular attention to the plans of the new generation provided by advanced knowledge systems that provide specific framework to climate adaptation planning and design. Specific attention would be also provided to urban and spatial planning techniques to counteract climate impacts, or with special reference to peculiar contexts (as coastal cities, interface areas with water-seas, in-land urban and rural contexts, arid cities, cultural heritage etc.). Proposals that focus on emerging concepts, tools and methods in planning and design, such as green infrastructure planning, nature-based solutions, etc. are more than welcome.
• Climate Mitigation in the Urban Context: Innovative strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions within cities and urban areas in relation to key sectors of urban development including energy-efficient buildings, low-carbon transportation systems, positive energy districts, renewable energy integration, and circular urban economies. That being said, proposals should not solely focus on technological innovations in key urban sectors but also include governance and policy frameworks that target carbon-neutral or climate-positive cities.
• Ecosystem Services and Resilience: The loss of nature affects our cities and territories and our daily life as individuals. Supporting nature regeneration with a proper action of planning systems – including enhancing biodiversity and ecosystems and landscapes above and below the water – will help improve the quality of these services as well as securing them for future generations. In particular ecosystem services can provide and actual support to adaptation strategies in built and natural environments.
• Environmental Justice and Inclusive Urban Policies: Most environmental challenges but particularly climate change disproportionately affects disadvantaged groups like marginalized, low-income, and vulnerable communities, which historically have contributed the least to the occurrence of the planetary crisis and the climate problem. However, these groups today endure the harshest impacts of almost all environmental issues. Therefore, ensuring equitable access to solutions, developing actions and strategies particularly for protecting the most vulnerable urban populations are must for an effective local climate action. Proposals are invited to explore how to advance equitable solutions so as not to “leave no one behind”, and to critically examine how cities can formulate and implement policies to address environmental and climate inequalities.
• Governance of the Environment: There are significant governance challenges in development and implementation of local actions for addressing environmental issues and ensuring sustainability. Therefore, proposals under this theme are expected to identify a variety of such challenges, preferably via case studies and also to discuss the ways to address them. Participatory decision-making, inclusive multi-level governance, enhanced stakeholder collaboration, institutional capacities, enabling conditions, new and innovative finance, diverse knowledge systems are the likely keywords of the discussions under this theme.

We hope that this track will serve as a platform for joint-thinking among a range of urban scholars and actors to exchange knowledge and ideas, and explore innovative solutions for the long-term sustainability and climate resilience of cities. We also hope to acknowledge the best practices and stimulate cross-sector collaboration to drive the urban transition in response to the planetary crisis.

We cordially invite you to join this important debate on the future of cities in the midst of a planetary crisis.