In the fall of 2022, the World Green Building Council published its guide for Climate Change Resilience in the Built Environment, outlining the principles for adaptation to a changing climate, applicable at the scale of cities, communities and buildings. This article is a collection of excerpts from the WGBC guide.
The consequences of climate change such as more frequent and worsening droughts, flooding and heat waves are already posing an existential threat worldwide.
This is felt acutely in our largest cities. Cities are important in this regard, not only because it is where most people live, but also where the most impactful solutions could be implemented.
Applying adaptation solutions to our cities will ensure that the built environment continues to protect, provide for, and connect urban citizens, despite a changing climate. Proactive climate adaptation can also deliver transformative health, societal and economic benefits. Most adaptation investments serve multiple purposes and quickly provide everyday benefits for better functioning cities and resilient communities.
For instance, strengthened river embankments can be used as pedestrian walkways, cycle lanes or parks; nature-based or ‘green’ adaptation solutions that use vegetation to reduce heat, drought and flood risk also help to improve air quality, environmental conservation, and citizens’ wellbeing, as well as absorbing greenhouse gases.
Reducing the risks of disasters also improves political security and helps reduce civil unrest, hunger, and disease, contributing to a stable environment for social and economic development.
These benefits outweigh the costs of potential losses by a factor of four, on average. Some leading cities are already taking innovative action. Wuhan is promoting ecologically-friendly alternatives to traditional flood defences and drainage systems city-wide called sponge city features. These features will not only work on principles of nature-based solutions to flooding (70% of flood water retention), but also bring multiple benefits to the city including creating cooler environments and creating amenity spaces.
The 15-minutes city concept (in which all a resident’s daily needs can be met within a 15-minute walking radius) is being applied through urban planning globally, from Bogota to Paris. This is not only due to its positive impacts to local economy and life, but also improving resilience to climate shocks. Cities are also implementing various local solutions to tackle increasing Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects. Los Angeles is installing cool paving; Medellin is creating a network of Corridores Verdes (green corridors); Melbourne and Adelaide are planting urban forests; and Cape Town is introducing water sprays in public parks.
Adaptation is needed in cities now. Policy makers, industry and wider stakeholders can ensure a safe and healthy future in cities by taking firm steps, adaptation is embedded in how we plan new and retrofit existing cities. This needs better planning, improved political will and financing adaptation solutions that can make our society more resilient to climate change.
We need to put people and nature first in pursuit of a world resilient to climate change – where we don’t just survive climate shocks and stresses, but thrive in spite of them.
The following sections present principles of built environment management for changes to weather- related climate change impacts such as: storms, high winds, droughts, floods, severe temperature change, and wildfires.
These principles are focused on measures of mitigation and damage protection from continual or gradual climate impacts and in some cases, extreme weather events.
In the words of Sachin Bhoite, Director of Climate Resilience, Climate Solutions and Networks at C-40 Cities, “Applying adaptation solutions to our cities will ensure that the built environment continues to protect, provide for and connect urban citizens, despite our changing climate.“
Strategic Decisions
• Assess and protect natural capital and resources with investment infrastructure – e.g. Prioritize greening of infrastructure in the urban area, including wildlife corridors. Integrate blue and green infrastructure into municipal urban planning. Manage water operations to avoid the depletion of available freshwater from building wastewater, including maintenance of existing water infrastructure.
• Collaborate with multi-disciplinary and public entities, enabling faster and more efficient
resilience and adaptation activities across the community and neighbourhood.
• Put in place early warning systems – command and control spaces – and emergency response plans for extreme climate events.
• Adopt sustainable strategies and frameworks that focus on community-scale planning, such as adopting natural capital based financial reporting to encourage nature-based solutions.
• Conduct detailed assessment of ecological health in the area to keep an eye on climate risks.
• Integrate indigenous knowledge and resources to help monitor key components of biodiversity, support sustainable use of environmental resources, and enforce conservation management through indigenous value system.
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