The political economy of urban climate adaptation and development planning in Surat, India

Schenk

Patterson

2018

Self Cite

Cities around the world are facilitating ambitious and inclusive action on climate change by adopting participatory and collaborative planning approaches. However, given the major political, spatial, and scalar interdependencies involved, the extent to which these planning tools equip cities to realise 1.5°C climate change scenarios is unclear. This article draws upon emerging knowledge in the fields of urban planning and urban climate governance to explore complementary insights into how cities can pursue ambitious and inclusive climate action to realise 1.5°C climate change scenarios. We observe that urban planning scholarship is often under-appreciated in urban climate governance research, while conversely, promising urban planning tools and approaches can be limited by the contested realities of urban climate governance. By thematically reviewing diverse examples of urban climate action across the globe, we identify three key categories of planning dilemmas: institutional heterogeneity, scalar mismatch, and equity and justice concerns. We argue that lessons from urban planning and urban climate governance scholarship should be integrated to better understand how cities can realise 1.5°C climate change scenarios in practice.

Section: Planning Support Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Planning Support Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dilemmas of Citizen Inclusion in Urban Planning and Governance to Enable a 1.5 °C Climate Change Scenario

Schenk

Patterson

2018

Self Cite

“…While early initiatives focused on reducing the vulnerability of slum neighborhoods, the planning process largely omitted meaningful participation of marginalized communities (Chu 2016). Projects implemented under ACCCRN assessed and catalogued areas vulnerable to flood and disease risks (ACCCRN 2011), especially the four hundred slums under high exposure to flood and vector-borne diseases (Bhat et al 2013).…”

Section: Private Sector Embeddedness Lobbying and Rent-seeking In Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

Equity Impacts of Urban Land Use Planning for Climate Adaptation

Anguelovski

Shi

Journal of Planning Education and Research

et al. 2016

Self Cite

424

104

A growing number of cities are preparing for climate change impacts by developing adaptation plans. However, little is known about how these plans and their implementation affect the vulnerability of the urban poor. We critically assess initiatives in eight cities worldwide and find that land use planning for climate adaptation can exacerbate socio-spatial inequalities across diverse developmental and environmental conditions. We argue that urban adaptation injustices fall into two categories: acts of commission, when interventions negatively affect or displace poor communities, and acts of omission, when they protect and prioritize elite groups at the expense of the urban poor.

“…The regulatory and knowledge infrastructure for climate change is decentralized across national, state and local authorities, and is based on the idea that planning for climate change requires actions that are transparent, accountable and cognizant of local contexts (Fisher, 2012;Sharma and Tomar, 2010). (Chu, 2016a;Karanth and Archer, 2014). Bhubaneswar: civil defence corps Solicit volunteers for community protection during disaster events.…”

Section: Embedded Case Studies Of Adaptation Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To further develop climate adaptation and resilience actions, the Surat Climate Change Trust was formed in 2013 as a platform upon which different urban public, private and civil society actors can contribute to prioritizing adaptation options, soliciting external financial support, and defining the city's overall adaptation agenda (Chu, 2016a). To further develop climate adaptation and resilience actions, the Surat Climate Change Trust was formed in 2013 as a platform upon which different urban public, private and civil society actors can contribute to prioritizing adaptation options, soliciting external financial support, and defining the city's overall adaptation agenda (Chu, 2016a).…”

Section: Public Health Capacity-building In Suratmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Governance of Climate Change Adaptation Through Urban Policy Experiments

2016

Env Pol Gov

Climate change is increasingly posing risks to infrastructure and public services in cities across the global South. Building on ideas of policy experimentation at the nexus of institutional and transition theories, this paper assesses six climate change adaptation experiments across the cities of Surat, Indore and Bhubaneswar in India to uncover the politics behind how experiments are conceived of, implemented, and supported in light of local development needs. Through employing both embedded and cross-case comparative methods, I argue that policy experiments are often framed around achieving tangible urban economic benefits and maximizing specific project complementarities, which allow emerging adaptation priorities access to established policy directives and funding streams. However, I conclude that despite being arenas for testing new ideas, quantifying climate and development co-benefits, and engaging private and civil society actors, adaptation policy experiments must be coherent with urban political economic contexts in order for them to affect sustained, equitable and transformative programmatic change.