Abstracts & PowerPoints

Convenor: Carlos Nunes Silva (Chair of the IGU Commission Geography of Governance & University of Lisbon, Portugal)

Moderator: Doris Wastl-Walter (Professor Emerita, University of Bern, Switzerland)

OPENING - A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE WEBINAR

Carlos Nunes Silva (Chair of the IGU Commission Geography of Governance & University of Lisbon, Portugal)

Doris Wastl-Walter (Professor Emerita, University of Bern, Switzerland)

HOW CAN ‘ORDINARY’ CITIES BECOME CLIMATE PIONEERS?

Wolfgang Haupt

Leibniz-Institute for Research on Society and Space, Germany

Peter Eckersley

Leibniz-Institute for Research on Society and Space, Germany & Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom

Kristine Kern

Leibniz-Institute for Research on Society and Space, Germany & Åbo Akademi University, Finland

ABSTRACT

One way to tackle climate change locally is to adopt already successful approaches pioneered by other cities. Thus, we challenge the common research practice of focusing on large leading forerunner cities. Instead, more researchers should study ‘ordinary’ cities “off the map”. While those cities lack a reputation as climate policy pioneers, their creative practices have the potential to be replicated by a myriad of other ‘ordinary’ cities. Drawing on climate and environmental governance literature and two cases from Germany, this chapter explores how ‘ordinary’ cities may become pioneers. Mid-sized cities like Remscheid and Gottingen demonstrate that local governments can catch up with the leaders, even if they have only limited resources and capacities, for example through frequent participation in third-party funded climate-related projects. Nevertheless, many more hidden pioneers and their creative approaches need to be discovered because they can serve as models for the transformation from ‘ordinary’ to pioneering cities.

URBAN ADAPTATION PLAN TO CLIMATE CHANGE AS A RESPONSE OF LOCAL GOVERNANCE TO THE GLOBAL CLIMATE EMERGENCY

Marek Degórski

Institute Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland

Bożena Degórska

Institute Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland

ABSTRACT

Faced with the threat of an increased frequency and intensity of extreme phenomena resulting from climate change, the priority task in local management is to undertake adaptation measures aimed at ensuring favourable conditions for the social and economic development of the country. The European Commission, when publishing the EU Strategy on adaptation to climate change in April 2013, indicated that in order to prepare the Member States for the anticipated climate changes, it would be necessary to undertake work at all levels - national, regional and local. One of the activities that is very important at the local level is the development of an urban adaptation plan to climate changes, which should present the climatic threats that may occur in a given city and how to minimize them. Such activities should be closely related to the results of research carried out in this area, both in the socio-economic and natural systems of the geographic megasystem. The overriding criterion for operational activities should be the quality of life of residents and their safety. The aim of the presentation is to present such activities on the examples of Polish cities, to indicate the possibilities of using the potential of the environment to reduce the effects of extreme phenomena (ecosystem services) and to strengthen the resilience of cities to negative exogenous factors.

THE COVENANT OF MAYORS IMPLEMENTATION IN SMALL ITALIAN MUNICIPALITIES:

BUILDING AN INTEGRATED AND CLIMATE-RESPONSIVE URBAN VISION

Luigi Santopietro

University of Basilicata, Italy

Francesco Scorza

University of Basilicata, Italy

ABSTRACT

Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs) are voluntary plans representing valuable opportunity to deeply influence urban development through a structured planning approach. SECAPs unlocked the ineffectiveness of traditional planning systems in Italy and other EU Countries and is operative practice promoting strategic urban vision building based on energy efficiency and climate adaptation. We focus on the small Municipalities (i.e. under 5000 inhabitants) representing a relevant SECAP implementation scale. In this work, starting from the evidence of EU SECAPs experience, we applied and integrated methodology to define the strategic framework of the SECAP in a small Italian town: Castelsaraceno (Basilicata Region). This case study is proposed as a model demonstrating the feasibility of the planning approach proposed by the authors and representative of the issues identifiable in the majority of EU small urban centres. The outcomes highlight how the territorial transformations included in the SECAP through an integrated strategic urban vision, overcoming the sectoral approach proposed by SECAP, may face relevant planning issues that usually didn’t find effective solutions through traditional planning tools and regulations. From a planning point of view, we affirm that the CoM started a new season of urban planning in Europe covering the planning demand in sustainable territorial development, increasing the “environmental awareness” and the commitment degree of the involved actors. Future perspectives of this research are to compare case study application of the proposed methodology reinforcing citizens involvement and stakeholders’ engagement in the SECAP design process.

COAL WARS: AN EXPLORATION INTO THE MULTIPLE AND COMPLEX CHALLENGES OF A JUST TRANSITION TO A LOW-CARBON FUTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA: THE CASE OF THE EMALAHLENI LOCAL MUNICIPALITY

Verna Nel

University of the Free State, South Africa

Mark Oranje

University of Pretoria, South Africa

ABSTRACT

For almost the last hundred years, coal has been the sole source behind South Africa’s electricity-generation, with (1) a substantial investment in that technology, (2) a large workforce employed in the coal-energy industry, and (3) a number of settlements owing their existence to it. Emalahleni Local Municipality, located in the heart of South Africa’s Mpumalanga coal mining and electricity generation region, has several coal-fired power plants, many of which are old, inefficient and unreliable. It consequently is a region with high levels of atmospheric pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Eskom, the state utility responsible for electricity supply to the nation since 1923, is struggling with heavy debts and ageing infrastructure and has been further weakened by state capture running into billions of Rands. The result of all of these challenges has been frequent power shortages/outages that have slowed economic growth, severely damaged the national psyche and hampered domestic and foreign direct investment. As a signatory to the Paris Accord and a 2021-Climate Change Bill, South Africa is slowly moving from coal to cleaner energy and embarking on climate change mitigation. However, despite the public commitments to pursuing clean and renewable energy, there are many challenges to ensuring this transition, not least the vested interests in the ‘coal complex’. In this paper, the complex problem and multiple conflicts between business, labour and national, and local government involved in ensuring the desired just transition from coal is explored. This is done against the background of (1) near-to-total national coal dependency, (2) the South African electricity-generation crisis, and (3) the many lives, livelihoods, settlements and industries built on and around the coal and related industries.

EXPERIENCES WITH DEVELOPING THE CLIMATE ADAPTATION PLAN FOR THE POZNAŃ AGGLOMERATION IN POLAND. CO-CREATION WITH ENGAGING CITIZENS, SCIENTISTS, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Paweł Churski

Faculty of Human Geography and Planning, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland

Patryk Kaczmarek

Faculty of Human Geography and Planning, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland

ABSTRACT

The climate crisis is a global challenge, but solutions to problems related to it should also be sought on a local scale, in line with the principle: "think globally - act locally". Climate change is a complex phenomenon that affects communities in different places around the globe in a different way, further deepening the divergence of development. Local authorities planning interventions in the field of adaptation and mitigation of climate change in their area should take into account the voice of local stakeholders creating local helixes of cooperation (residents and non-governmental organizations, enterprises, science, authorities), among which residents play a special place. According to the approach of citizen science and responsible research & innovation (RRI), they are the main source of knowledge about local needs and problems. It is also the inhabitants who are the main recipients of adaptation and mitigation measures, and therefore their inclusion in the process of creating strategies and programs is a necessary condition for building a sense of shared responsibility for the space in which we live and use together. The presentation aims to present the conclusions from the development of the Plan of Adaptation to Climate Change in the Poznań Metropolis relating to the identified local problems related to the impact of climate change and their co-creation solutions with wide participation of the local community. The presented conclusions are based on the results of the field research carried out, in which the innovative crowdmapping technique (developed under the TeRRIFICA project) was used and several consultation workshops in the living lab formula were organized. An additional value of the presented results is the conclusions on the benefi ts and barriers identified in the process of creating conditions for social participation to limit and counteract climate change in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

VULNERABILITY OF THE RUSSIA’S POPULATION TO CLIMATE RISKS: SPATIAL DIMENSION

Vera Vinogradova

Alexandr Sheludkov

Olga Glezer

For assessing the vulnerability of the population to climate change the spatial unevenness of warming and its natural consequences, as well as the development and settlement pattern of the territory should be taken into account. A differentiated approach is necessary not only at the global level, but also within large countries. Russian regions and municipalities differ dramatically in the degree of vulnerability to shocks and risks associated with climate change and global climate policy as a response to the change. Large-scale macroregional shifts in population distribution over the last 30 years, increasing building density in a few urban and metropolitan areas occur along with increasing frequency of climatic hazards and changes in climate favorability in different parts of the country. The authors’ methodology includes the search and processing of retrospective, current and forecast (scenario) climatic and socio-demographic parameters and their timespatial harmonization and comparison. This technique allows us to obtain quantitative estimates of the distribution and dynamics of the population on the territory of Russia, taking into account climate change and the transformation of settlement pattern. At this stage, the distribution of the population of Russia in the second half of the 20 – beginning of the 21 century by zones of climatic comfort is estimated. The results of the assessment can be used by federal and regional governance, namely, determining priority areas to prevent unfavorable climatic impact on population.

CLIMATE CHANGE DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN

POOR NEIGHBORHOODS: A CASE STUDY OF BUFFALO CITY, SOUTH AFRICA

Natal Buthelezi

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University Free State, South Africa

Abraham Matamanda

Department of Geography, University Free State, South Africa

Verna Nel

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University Free State, South Africa

ABSTRACT

The paper analyses climate change disaster risk reduction management systems employed by the state in South Africa’s secondary cities. The analysis is situated in a distinct urban canvas comprising proliferating informal settlements and rising inequality. Secondary cities are expected to accommodate a larger share of future urban growth in sub-Saharan Africa. This population growth will be largely driven by low-income groups who are most vulnerable to climate change-related extreme weather. The paper presents a pro-poor climate change adaptation inquiry underpinned by the inequality disparity concept using a qualitative study approach. The study analyses the local government policy framework, planning, and implementation on climate change adaptation in vulnerable communities and further examine their effectiveness in risk reduction and the empowerment of residents. The study argues that many urban management systems that are currently operational are structurally rigid and entrenched in systems based on historical inequalities that only serve a minority. Low economic productivity coupled with poor infrastructure development and ineffective urban planning guidelines to adequately translate the national climate change action plan to local levels will exacerbate the vulnerability of the poor to emerging climate change hazards. The primary recommendation from the study is for the co-production of knowledge on urban climate resilience between local communities and the state. The paper concludes that climate-proof or resilient strategies are only effective when sensitive to the present urban realities, with the poor being the focal point.