Free Essay

How Are Urban Areas Planning for Climate Change

In:

Submitted By thinknorth
Words 823
Pages 4
Urban areas planning for climate change
Climate change changes the world’s weather patterns so not only do cities need to focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions but to also adapt to future climate change and extremes of weather such as flooding and drought.
I will be focusing on how the city of London in England is planning for climate change. 1. Greening London
The government aims to increase the number of open and green spaces in London which not only improves the look and feel of the city, making it more attractive whilst reducing the impact of noise and air pollution. Greening London also makes the city more resilient to flooding and extreme weather events, and can contribute to a healthy mind and body. The Mayor aims to increase tree cover by five per cent by 2025, therefore achieving one tree for every Londoner and creating a better network of interlinked, multi-functional and high quality open and green spaces. 2. Cleaner air for London
Air pollution is a serious health issue which damages the natural and built environment. Actions being taken to improve air quality include introducing the first ever age limit for black cabs tougher standards for the Low Emission Zone, new cleaner hybrid and hydrogen buses and fitting older buses with equipment including filters to curb pollution. The new bus for London, which will be launched in 2012, will use the latest green technology making it 40 per cent more efficient than a conventional double decker. The Mayor is working to introduce more electric vehicles onto London’s streets. In May this year, he launched Source London, the UK’s first citywide electric vehicle charging network and membership scheme. Additional steps are being taken to tackle pollution levels at some of the busiest roads in central London. This includes utilising dust suppressant technology that prevents particulate matter (PM10) from re-circulating, installing green infrastructure to trap pollutants and a no engine idling campaign to reduce engines running unnecessarily when stationary. 3. Protection against Flooding
London is vulnerable to flooding from a variety of sources, key of which are flooding from the North Sea (tidal flooding), the freshwater Thames and the tributaries to the Thames (fluvial flooding) and from heavy rainfall (surface water flooding). Flood risk in London is principally managed by a system of flood defences (walls, gates and the Thames Barrier) and drainage networks. London is currently very well protected against tidal flooding, but has a lower and much more variable standard of protection against fluvial flooding and a relatively low standard of protection against surface water flooding. The probability of all forms of flooding is projected to increase as sea levels rise and heavy rainfall events become more frequent and intense. A large proportion of London’s infrastructure and housing is located on land that is at risk of one type of flooding depending on its location.
There are three key ways to prevent or reduce the impact of flooding: * Spatial planning – This involves avoiding locating flood-vulnerable land uses in high flood-risk areas and identifying where current developments should be removed or exchanged for less flood-sensitive land uses in the future. However, the pressure for development in urban areas means that it is sometimes necessary to develop in flood-risk areas. The GLA and boroughs are responsible for using the planning process to reduce flood risk. The government’s forthcoming review of the planning system must ensure that spatial planning remains the first step in flood risk management. * Flood defences and drainage systems – A significant proportion of London is protected by flood defences. The Environment Agency has responsibility for maintaining most of the tidal and fluvial flood defences, but some riverside landowners also have responsibility for the flood defences on their land and these have to be maintained to the Environment Agency’s standards by the landowners. * Using the public, or private, realm to store, or redirect floodwater – This involves designing areas to deliberately flood (such as parkland, sports fields, public squares, road spaces, or below ground spaces) so that flooding of more vulnerable land uses can be avoided, or reduced. At present, this option is under-utilised in London and many areas of open space could be designed to flood to reduce the risk to built-up areas. 4. Overheating
It is not possible to prevent hot weather from occurring, but it is possible to limit how much the urban realm intensifies hot weather. * It is possible to design new buildings and infrastructure to minimise overheating in hot weather and therefore minimise all but essential mechanical cooling which would otherwise increase the urban island heat effect. For example, building managers can decide to only cool critical parts of a building. Good design, such as minimising solar gain, fitting shutters or shading and increasing green cover can reduce the effect of overheating and particularly the urban heat island effect. In turn, these will reduce the need for air conditioning.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Exam Questions

...Exam series | Sect A Plate Tec(7 marks) | Sect APlate tec(8 marks) | Sect A Plate tec(10 marks) | | Sect CPlate tec essay (40 marks) | June 2010 | Study fig 1 a photo …recent earthquake. Using fig 1 only, comment on the evidence that suggest that an earthquake has recently taken place | Describe how seismic waves and earthquakes can be measured | With reference to two seismic events you have studied from contrasting areas of the world, compare the ways in which earthquakes and their impacts have been managed | | “The hazards presented by volcanic and seismic events have the greatest impact on the world’s poorest people” To what extent do you agree with this view? | Jan 2011 | Study fig 1, a map showing tectonic features in the Philippines. Comment on the degree to which the area of the Philippines might be subject to tectonic hazards | Outline the formation of hot spots and explain their relationship to plate movement | With reference to 2 volcanic events that you have studied from contrasting areas of the world, compare the nature of the volcanic hazard and its impact | | “Volcanic and seismic events are major pieces of evidence towards proving that plate tectonics theory is valid”. Discuss the extent to which you agree with this statement. | June 2011 | Study fig 1 which is an image of the sea bed of the N Atlantic Ocean … Comment on the extent to which the features shown support the theory of plate tectonics. | Describe the characteristics of, and explain the formation...

Words: 1106 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Cities Without Slums: Combatting Slum Formation

...Cities without Slums Slum Formation Introduction When we talk about slums the focus is often how to bring people living in them into better living conditions. UN-Habitat claims that the number of slum dwellers worldwide is nearing a billion people but this number could triple by 2050 if not addressed. It is important to consider how we can prevent the creation of new slum populations as well as addressing the conditions that already exist. This report aims to investigate the push and pull factors that facilitate slum formation as well as worsen the problem where there are existing slum populations. The driving factors will be examined in relation to case studies relating to urbanization as well as conflicts and climate events that force displacement. By looking at these examples it will be assessed the manner in which these situations contribute the issue of slums across the world. Furthermore, the observations will be used to suggest what may be done to prevent or minimize the effect that they have in creating and worsening slum conditions. Slums tend to form when there is a demand for housing or infrastructure that is not sufficiently being addressed by whatever authorities or government controls an area. The problem of slum formation is complex; addressing land policies, housing prices, provision of adequate infrastructure and public services. The problem is especially exacerbated by large displacement or migration that can have a number of catalysts. Acioli states that...

Words: 3989 - Pages: 16

Premium Essay

Importance Of Adaptation Plan

...effects of climate change which is important in dealing with the impacts of climate change that are already happening as well as preparing for future impacts (UNFCCC, 2008). Adaptation planning enables countries to generate and implement national adaptation plans so as to identify medium and long term adaptation needs. Adaptation planning is a continuous process; that is guided by the country. This process is participatory, transparent and gender sensitive in planning for current and future climate change impacts (UNFCCC, 2008; Preston et al, 2011). When generating developing adaptation plans governments, regional authorities and local communities must, together plan and decide on...

Words: 1588 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Cities and Climate

...Public Disclosure Authorized 62696 Public Disclosure Authorized CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE Responding to an Urgent Agenda Daniel Hoornweg, Mila Freire, Marcus J. Lee, Perinaz Bhada-Tata, and Belinda Yuen, editors blic Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE The Urban Development Series discusses the challenge of urbanization and what it will mean for developing countries in the decades ahead. The series delves substantively into the core issues framed by the World Bank’s 2009 Urban Strategy, Systems of Cities: Harnessing Urbanization for Growth and Poverty Alleviation. Across the five domains of the Urban Strategy, the series provides a focal point for publications that seek to foster a better understanding of the core elements of the city system, pro-poor policies, city economies, urban land and housing markets, urban environments, and other issues germane to the agenda of sustainable urban development. Cities and Climate Change: Responding to an Urgent Agenda is the first title in the Urban Development Series. CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE Responding to an Urgent Agenda Daniel Hoornweg, Mila Freire, Marcus J. Lee, Perinaz Bhada-Tata, and Belinda Yuen, editors Washington, D.C. © 2011 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000 Internet: www.worldbank.org All rights reserved 1 2 3 4 14 13 12 11 This volume is a product...

Words: 23444 - Pages: 94

Free Essay

Lean

...introduction of exotic plant or animal species. Disturbances of sufficient magnitudeor duration can profoundly affect an ecosystem and may force an ecosystem to reach a threshold beyond which a different regime of processes and structures predominates.Human activities that adversely affect ecosystem resilience such as reduction of biodiversity, exploitation of natural resources,pollution, land-use, and anthropogenic climate change are increasingly causing regime shifts in ecosystems, often to less desirable and degraded conditions. Interdisciplinary discourse on resilience now includes consideration of the interactions of humans and ecosystems via socio-ecological systems, and the need for shift from the maximum sustainable yield paradigm to environmental management which aims to build ecological resilience through "resilience analysis, adaptive resource management, and adaptive governance". The concept of resilience in ecological systems was first introduced by the Canadian ecologist C.S. Holling  in order to describe the persistence of natural systems in the face of changes in ecosystem variables due to natural or anthropogenic causes. Resilience has been defined in two ways in ecological literature: 1. as the time required for an ecosystem to return to an equilibrium or steady-state following a perturbation (which is also defined as stability by some authors). This definition of resilience is used in other fields such as physics and engineering, and hence has been termed...

Words: 15264 - Pages: 62

Premium Essay

Urban Greening

...​"Greening urban areas is not just about making places look nice. Evaluate the contribution of green areas in cities to meeting the goals of sustainable development" (40 marks) Sustainable development is most frequency defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Thus, sustainable development means finding a balance between the fulfillment of human needs with the protection of the natural environment. Sustainable development can be conceptually broken into three constituent parts environmental protection, economic sustainability, and social wellbeing. In this essay I will evaluate how cities have used urban greening to make steps towards sustainable development. To do this I will focus on Singapore and Hamburg. Firstly, green urban areas act as vital regulating ecosystem services meaning they help to control the climate. Metropolitan areas like Singapore are often affected by the urban heat island effect whereby the inner city can be up to 5°C warmer than surrounding rural areas due to human activities (e.g. the use of cars). Areas of urban greening, for example Fort Canning Park, Singapore’s 18 hectare conservation park, have the ability to undertake the vital role of offsetting the urban heat island effect (UHI). Due to the parks location it acts as a green lung for Singapore’s CBD. With an estimated 1,700 trees the park absorbs heat and has an evaporative cooling effect. As well...

Words: 1538 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Risk Management and Drought

...Jim Jordan 3/10/13 Environmental Planning Risk Management and Drought In order to be able to discuss the components needed for a risk management approach to a drought, it is important to first understand what risk is. How likely is it? What can happen? What are the impacts? Questions like these are very useful in understanding what risk is, and how to evaluate the risk. By taking both the possibility of an event happening as well as the possible consequences of such an event, such as a flood for example, can help rank how big of a risk is involved. It is also important to realize that risk affects different people differently, so the risk perception and concern is different from one person to the next, so therefore the needs for reduction is different from one individual to the next. These needs can apply to any event, but are particularly important when it comes to managing a drought. A drought is defined as a deficiency of precipitation from expected or “normal” that extends over a season or longer period of time. It is important to note that a drought is not a permanent feature of climate, but instead is a temporary feature or an aberration. Aridity on the other hand is a permanent climate feature that is primarily dry, and is often found in the Southwestern part of the United States. Another distinct feature about a drought is that unlike other climate phenomena, it is a very slow onset, sometimes referred to as “creeping” or non-event. The impacts tend...

Words: 1528 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Assessing the Potential for Urban Heat Island Mitigation Strategies and Solutions in Shanghai, China

...The Issue of the Urban Heat Island For the first time in 2008 the human population was split evenly between urban and non-urban areas (Population Reference Bureau). Now, three years later, with greater than 50 percent of people live in urban areas, a large proportion of the human population is at risk of danger from urban climate stress. Urban areas drastically alter the natural landscape of the environments they replace and along with that, feed back loops that maintain local climate and ecosystems. The common identifiers of urban and suburban areas such as large buildings, blacktop surfaces, and roof tops not only directly affect the surfaces they replaced and the ecosystems the land supported, but also the stable climate that the land supported. Natural surfaces such as meadows and forests help to maintain local climates by performing multiple environmental services. When replaced by ubiquitous urban surfaces such as vast blacktop parking lots and roads the local evapotranspiration and albedo are reduced and heat-trapping environments are created (Buyantuyev and Jianguo, 2010). The high concentration of impervious low albedo surfaces in urban areas means that heat is more concentrated in those areas compared to their surrounding natural land. This phenomenon occurs in many urban settings and is known as the Urban Heat Island effect (UHI). Since the Chinese government began its reform process in 1978, Shanghai, China has been constantly expanding and urbanizing...

Words: 4207 - Pages: 17

Free Essay

Worker

...expertise given by one country to another, either free or at low cost Anticyclone – area of high pressure Appropriate technology – level in terms of size and complexity that makes it suitable for local people to use Arch – rocky opening through a headland formed by wave erosion Arête – sharp-edged two-sided ridge on the top of a mountain Bar – ridge of sand or shingle across the entrance to a bay or river mouth Beach – sloping area of sand and shingle between the high and low water marks Biodiversity – level of plant and animal variety in an ecosystem Birth rate – number of live births per 1000 population per year Boulder clay/till – all materials deposited by ice, usually clay containing sharp-edged boulders of many sizes Brown earth – uniform brown-coloured soil that forms under deciduous woodland Brownfield site – area of previously built-up land that is available to be built on again Carbon credits – each one gives the buyer the right to emit 1 tonne of carbon into the atmosphere Carbon footprint – emissions of carbon dioxide left behind by burning fossil fuels Carbon trading – companies that have exceeded their carbon emissions allowance buy carbon credits from those that have not Cash crop farming – crops grown for sale instead of farmer’s own use (the opposite of subsistence farming) Cave – hollow at the bottom of a cliff eroded by waves Central Business District (CBD) – urban zone located in the centre, mainly shops and offices Cliff – steep rock outcrop...

Words: 2194 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Assignment

...(Gob) for the improvement of the environment sector, wherein this report may be a basis for actions and/or intervention. This work focuses on the aspects of understanding the important features of the Bangladesh environment that need to be essentially understood. The purpose of the report is to present the findings of a review done on the environment sector. The review considered the ongoing and past interventions, legal and policy regimes and finally outlined the outstanding issues facing the sector. Objectives of the study It is well established that the process of land use change leads to the alteration of existing environmental conditions of any area. The specific objectives of the study were: 1. To identify the existing land use pattern of the selected area; 2. To explore the prime causes of land use change and its Effects on the environment of the study area, and 3. To give some suggestions based on the study findings. gulations for new industries, and strengthening the regulatory system for agro-chemical pollution control. Alternatively, clean-up strategy can be mobilized through private organizations in a public-private partnership approach. Solid waste management. With the high density of...

Words: 5450 - Pages: 22

Premium Essay

Sustainable Disgn

...with houses built to high levels of sustainability. The buildings pictured were designed by Gale & Snowden Architects Ltd, who also acted as ecological design consultants for the site. http:/ /www.ecodesign.co.uk Good Practice Guidance: Sustainable Design and Construction The purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development ... ... To achieve sustainable development, economic, social and environmental gains should be sought jointly and simultaneously through the planning system ... ... Good design is a key aspect of sustainable development, is indivisible from good planning, and should contribute positively to making places better for people ... ... Local planning authorities should adopt proactive strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change, taking full account of flood risk, coastal change and water supply and demand considerations ... National Planning Policy Framework, Department for Communities and Local Government, March 2012 Cross Sector Group on Sustainable Design and Construction August 2012 Contents Introduction Background The role of planning, and its relation to Building Regulations Formulating planning policies on sustainable design and construction Justifying local requirements: evidence and viability Examples of local plan policies Development management 03 04 05 06 06 07 08 Annex 1 – Example policies on sustainable design and construction (including relevant extracts...

Words: 6779 - Pages: 28

Premium Essay

Critical Assesment

...Critically asses the relevance of sustainability as a concept of understanding urban development Introduction Sustainability is the ability to maintain and retain a particular process in an existing system (Pieterse, 2004). The word sustainability has been used since in 1980s. Its application has been mainly on the human sustainability on earth, which has resulted in the term sustainability that forms part of the sustainable development concept. The term sustainable development means a kind of development that satisfies the requirement of the present generation without compromising the capability of the future generation to be able to meet their needs. There are three main sustainable development goals. These goals are also known as the pillars of sustainability. They include environmental protection, social development and economic development. These three pillars of sustainability have served on common grounds for several sustainability standards as well as certification systems in the past and even today. These three pillars can be illustrated in details as follows: 1. Environmental protection: this is the capability of an environment to provide a given environmental quality and also natural resource extraction rate indefinitely. 2. Social development: this is the capability of a social system like a country or an organization to function at a particular level of social well-being and in harmony. 3. Economic development: this is the indefinite capability of an...

Words: 3383 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Essay On Water Quality Management

...The obstacle of water quality management is large scale and plenty of factors, including population growth and density, land use in each pattern and practice of urbanization, agriculture, aquaculture and industry comprehensive all activity in water supply system (UNICEF WHO, 2008). The unpredictability in the water quality management is physical characteristics and phenomena change of nature. These are impact from geological attribute for example drainage pattern, land slope and soil property, hydrodynamic processes for example rainfall, runoff, river flow and discharge and climate for example temperature and solar radiation (Rehana and Mujumdar, 2011; Tsakiris and Alexis, 2012). Water quality administration should be procedure in system, there are plenty of system elements which have interrelationship with fluctuate uncertainties. The management of water quality should consider into two main influence factors. First, pollutants discharge from point and...

Words: 1324 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Environment

...Environment and Climate Change Policy Brief – Mozambique Generic outline October 2011 Gunilla Ölund Wingqvist Sida's Helpdesk for Environment and Climate Change www.sidaenvironmenthelpdesk.se Contact: Gunilla Ölund Wingqvist E-mail: gunilla.olund-wingqvist@gu.se Table of Contents 2. 1. 3. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 Country environment and climate change context ............................................................. 1 Key poverty-environment linkages .................................................................................... 3 3.1 Who are the poor? ............................................................................................................ 3 3.2 Poverty as lack of natural resources and ecosystem services ........................................... 3 3.3 Poverty as lack of power .............................................................................................. 4 3.4 Poverty as lack of choice .................................................................................................. 5 4. Key environmental challenges and opportunities for development ................................... 6 4.1 Key environmental challenges and opportunities ............................................................ 6 4.2 External and internal factors influencing environmentally sustainable development .....

Words: 10387 - Pages: 42

Free Essay

An Analysis of Eric Klinenberg "Adaptation"

...Institution Adaptation Global warming and climate change exist, and the two have called for a world attention to reducing their impacts. The Great Eight nations, including U.S., have convened various global summits where heads of states come to debate how to counter the increased climate change. Various recommendations have been proposed to counter the effects of climate change and devise ways in which the change are accommodated. This paper will discuss the rhetorical questions asked by the author of the journal article. ‘Adaptation’ is authored by Eric Klinenberg and is published in a journal called The New Yorker. The targeted audience is the people of New York, who have suffered the effects of climate change in the city. The article is written by the department of urban planning. This gives the author authority to address his audience since the department is concerned with enlightening the urban population about things that affect their everyday life. The date of publication is January 2013 making it relevant even to date. The city of New York is still subject to heat waves, hurricanes, and floods. The journal article is titled Adaptation: How can cities be “climate proofed”. The title articulates the content since it is taking about adapting to climate change in New York and other cities. This is after Hurricane Sandy that occurred in New York. The author focuses on how cities can take measures to adapt to weather changes. By climate proofing, the author means taking measures...

Words: 1227 - Pages: 5