29. RGS IBG Annual International Conference 2012 Presentation
Building climate
resilience through
urban planning
processes
The Challenges of
Practice
Jim Jarvie, Richard Friend, Sarah
Reed and Ratri Sutarto
Urban climate challenges; SE Asia
• SE Asia rapidly urbanizing
• Huge transformations of land
• Much of climate change
impacts are about water and
land
– Water availability, quality
– Flooding, storms, hazards
– Sea Level Rise
• Urban inequality
Resilience
•
•
•
•
Bridges adaptation & mitigation divides
Addresses complex dynamic systems
Embraces multiple scales
Assumes adaptive learning, flexible
institutions, but:
– Power & politics
– How meanings & values are
socially constructed
– Urban Resilience of what? For
whom?
Mainstreaming into what?
• Assumptions of mainstreaming:
– Rational policy and planning
processes
– Working law, and enforcement of
regulations
– Policy & practice technical - not
about politics and power
• Mismatch between policy and
implementation is not being considered
(except as a technical problem)
• Need radical rethinking of
‘mainstreaming’
Perception and reality: examples
Perceived problem
Reality
The problem of policy and planning is often
presented (even by local actors) as a
weakness of implementation
When societal norms are not based in
transparent, inclusive and representative
government, weak enforcement systems
can be use to legitimize what would
otherwise be questionable practice.
Lack of checks and balances
System kept weak allowing elite resource
capture
Urban expansion is chaotic because of
weak planning and implementation
Urban expansion is chaotic because strong
actors are amassing benefits and pliable
planning processes legitimize corrupt and
other practices
Planning should bring order & justice to
urban management and expansion
Lack of recognition that policy and planning
serves other purposes than legitimate
governance
Planning - a technical exercise?
• Development support and technical
advice focuses on planning as a
technical exercise, but:
– Planning is closely related to the
legitimacy and authority of the state
– The spread of urban centers is part of
a historical struggle between the
center and periphery
– And spread of capital through
economic integration
– Planning clearer in infrastructure
investment than long term urban
strategies
Local government
• Local governments are agents –
actors with capacity shaping
– Room for maneuver around the very
frameworks that they own
– Ownership of information (‘cognitive
capital’)
– Critical roles over land, thereby
generating financial & political
capital
– Roles of other actors and networks
who may also have enormous
influence
Land & Information
• Underpinning urbanization is land use
change and expansion
• Land use change and expansion in turn
changes values of land
• Conversion creates climate risks & cause
displacement shocks to others
• Information (cognitive capital) on land use
can be exploited if not in the public domain
Urban Resilience
Resilience
• Links to adaptive management, flexible,
learning oriented institutions & processes
• Can create new space for rethinking
urban futures
• Relies on critical issues of information,
knowledge & power
• Needs to put values center stage
including justice, rights, wellbeing
• Needs public engagement and
information freedom will be key
The Big Lesson
• Resilience is not about mainstreaming
but reconfiguring urban policy and
planning:
– We argue for facilitating informed
public processes, where critical
information about land, current and
projected vulnerability is in the public
domain
• The technical side, the focus of most
project effort is the least of our worries
References
From ACCCRN:
Moench, M., S. Tyler and J. Lage (2011) Catalyzing Urban Climate Resilience:
Applying resilience concepts to planning practice in the ACCCRN program (20092011) Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (ISET): Boulder, Colorado
Other:
Long, N & A. Long (eds) (1992) Battlefields of Knowledge: The Interlocking of
Theory and Practice in Social Research and Development Routledge: London
Majone, G (1989) Evidence, Argument and Persuasion in the Policy Process
Yale University Press: Yale
Ribiero, G (2005) Research into Urban Development and Cognitive Capital in
Thailand The Journal of Transdisciplinary Environmental Studies vol. 4, no. 1,
ACCCRN - www.acccrn.org
ISET – www.i-s-e-t.org
Mercy Corps – www.mercycorps.org
resilience through
urban planning
processes
The Challenges of
Practice
Jim Jarvie, Richard Friend, Sarah
Reed and Ratri Sutarto
Urban climate challenges; SE Asia
• SE Asia rapidly urbanizing
• Huge transformations of land
• Much of climate change
impacts are about water and
land
– Water availability, quality
– Flooding, storms, hazards
– Sea Level Rise
• Urban inequality
Resilience
•
•
•
•
Bridges adaptation & mitigation divides
Addresses complex dynamic systems
Embraces multiple scales
Assumes adaptive learning, flexible
institutions, but:
– Power & politics
– How meanings & values are
socially constructed
– Urban Resilience of what? For
whom?
Mainstreaming into what?
• Assumptions of mainstreaming:
– Rational policy and planning
processes
– Working law, and enforcement of
regulations
– Policy & practice technical - not
about politics and power
• Mismatch between policy and
implementation is not being considered
(except as a technical problem)
• Need radical rethinking of
‘mainstreaming’
Perception and reality: examples
Perceived problem
Reality
The problem of policy and planning is often
presented (even by local actors) as a
weakness of implementation
When societal norms are not based in
transparent, inclusive and representative
government, weak enforcement systems
can be use to legitimize what would
otherwise be questionable practice.
Lack of checks and balances
System kept weak allowing elite resource
capture
Urban expansion is chaotic because of
weak planning and implementation
Urban expansion is chaotic because strong
actors are amassing benefits and pliable
planning processes legitimize corrupt and
other practices
Planning should bring order & justice to
urban management and expansion
Lack of recognition that policy and planning
serves other purposes than legitimate
governance
Planning - a technical exercise?
• Development support and technical
advice focuses on planning as a
technical exercise, but:
– Planning is closely related to the
legitimacy and authority of the state
– The spread of urban centers is part of
a historical struggle between the
center and periphery
– And spread of capital through
economic integration
– Planning clearer in infrastructure
investment than long term urban
strategies
Local government
• Local governments are agents –
actors with capacity shaping
– Room for maneuver around the very
frameworks that they own
– Ownership of information (‘cognitive
capital’)
– Critical roles over land, thereby
generating financial & political
capital
– Roles of other actors and networks
who may also have enormous
influence
Land & Information
• Underpinning urbanization is land use
change and expansion
• Land use change and expansion in turn
changes values of land
• Conversion creates climate risks & cause
displacement shocks to others
• Information (cognitive capital) on land use
can be exploited if not in the public domain
Urban Resilience
Resilience
• Links to adaptive management, flexible,
learning oriented institutions & processes
• Can create new space for rethinking
urban futures
• Relies on critical issues of information,
knowledge & power
• Needs to put values center stage
including justice, rights, wellbeing
• Needs public engagement and
information freedom will be key
The Big Lesson
• Resilience is not about mainstreaming
but reconfiguring urban policy and
planning:
– We argue for facilitating informed
public processes, where critical
information about land, current and
projected vulnerability is in the public
domain
• The technical side, the focus of most
project effort is the least of our worries
References
From ACCCRN:
Moench, M., S. Tyler and J. Lage (2011) Catalyzing Urban Climate Resilience:
Applying resilience concepts to planning practice in the ACCCRN program (20092011) Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (ISET): Boulder, Colorado
Other:
Long, N & A. Long (eds) (1992) Battlefields of Knowledge: The Interlocking of
Theory and Practice in Social Research and Development Routledge: London
Majone, G (1989) Evidence, Argument and Persuasion in the Policy Process
Yale University Press: Yale
Ribiero, G (2005) Research into Urban Development and Cognitive Capital in
Thailand The Journal of Transdisciplinary Environmental Studies vol. 4, no. 1,
ACCCRN - www.acccrn.org
ISET – www.i-s-e-t.org
Mercy Corps – www.mercycorps.org