(R)urban Synergy vs. Climate Change

2022 ◽  
pp. 704-722
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Stupar ◽  
Vladimir Mihajlov ◽  
Ivan Simić

The chapter provides an insight into the relationship between synergic (r)urban systems, information networks and climate change, discussing the emerging ideas, and concepts related to the increasing use of information networks in the process of climate adaptation and mitigation. Emphasizing the strategic role of both digital and material information flows, supported by ICT tools, the chapter focuses on two main domains of data exchange and knowledge transfer: the public communication of climate change and the connectivity and interaction within (r)urban hybrid systems. Underlining the issues of effectiveness, accessibility, and low-carbon outcomes of synergic (r)urban reactions to climate shift, recent environmental and technological trends are considered in accordance with the preferred spatio-functional flexibility of emerging (r)urban hybrid settlements. The chapter also identifies and analyses three areas of ICT applicability, targeting the role of information networks in the anticipated climate-friendly development: human behavior, ecological awareness, and general efficiency.

Author(s):  
Aleksandra Stupar ◽  
Vladimir Mihajlov ◽  
Ivan Simić

The chapter provides an insight into the relationship between synergic (r)urban systems, information networks and climate change, discussing the emerging ideas, and concepts related to the increasing use of information networks in the process of climate adaptation and mitigation. Emphasizing the strategic role of both digital and material information flows, supported by ICT tools, the chapter focuses on two main domains of data exchange and knowledge transfer: the public communication of climate change and the connectivity and interaction within (r)urban hybrid systems. Underlining the issues of effectiveness, accessibility, and low-carbon outcomes of synergic (r)urban reactions to climate shift, recent environmental and technological trends are considered in accordance with the preferred spatio-functional flexibility of emerging (r)urban hybrid settlements. The chapter also identifies and analyses three areas of ICT applicability, targeting the role of information networks in the anticipated climate-friendly development: human behavior, ecological awareness, and general efficiency.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6517
Author(s):  
Innocent Chirisa ◽  
Trynos Gumbo ◽  
Veronica N. Gundu-Jakarasi ◽  
Washington Zhakata ◽  
Thomas Karakadzai ◽  
...  

Reducing vulnerability to climate change and enhancing the long-term coping capacities of rural or urban settlements to negative climate change impacts have become urgent issues in developing countries. Developing countries do not have the means to cope with climate hazards and their economies are highly dependent on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water, and coastal zones. Like most countries in Southern Africa, Zimbabwe suffers from climate-induced disasters. Therefore, this study maps critical aspects required for setting up a strong financial foundation for sustainable climate adaptation in Zimbabwe. It discusses the frameworks required for sustainable climate adaptation finance and suggests the direction for success in leveraging global climate financing towards building a low-carbon and climate-resilient Zimbabwe. The study involved a document review and analysis and stakeholder consultation methodological approach. The findings revealed that Zimbabwe has been significantly dependent on global finance mechanisms to mitigate the effects of climate change as its domestic finance mechanisms have not been fully explored. Results revealed the importance of partnership models between the state, individuals, civil society organisations, and agencies. Local financing institutions such as the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) have been set up. This operates a Climate Finance Facility (GFF), providing a domestic financial resource base. A climate change bill is also under formulation through government efforts. However, numerous barriers limit the adoption of adaptation practices, services, and technologies at the scale required. The absence of finance increases the vulnerability of local settlements (rural or urban) to extreme weather events leading to loss of life and property and compromised adaptive capacity. Therefore, the study recommends an adaptation financing framework aligned to different sectoral policies that can leverage diverse opportunities such as blended climate financing. The framework must foster synergies for improved impact and implementation of climate change adaptation initiatives for the country.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10708
Author(s):  
Nate Kauffman ◽  
Kristina Hill

The scale and scope of climate change has triggered widespread acknowledgement of the need to adapt to it. Out of recent work attempting to understand, define, and contribute to the family of concepts related to adaptation efforts, considerable contributions and research have emerged. Yet, the field of climate adaptation constantly grapples with complex ideas whose relational interplay is not always clear. Similarly, understanding how applied climate change adaptation efforts unfold through planning processes that are embedded in broader institutional settings can be difficult to apprehend. We present a review of important theory, themes, and terms evident in the literature of spatial planning and climate change adaptation to integrate them and synthesize a conceptual framework illustrating their dynamic interplay. This leads to consideration of how institutions, urban governance, and the practice of planning are involved, and evolving, in shaping climate adaptation efforts. While examining the practice of adaptation planning is useful in framing how core climate change concepts are related, the role of institutional processes in shaping and defining these concepts—and adaptation planning itself—remains complex. Our framework presents a useful tool for approaching and improving an understanding of the interactive relationships of central climate change adaptation concepts, with implications for future work focused on change within the domains of planning and institutions addressing challenges in the climate change era.


Author(s):  
Sarah Hackfort

Social science climate research falls significantly short of the reflective power of feminist thought when it comes to the role of gender and its intersection with other categories of social difference and hierarchy in adaptation to climate change. This article seeks to narrow this gap by broadening the perspectives for an analysis of gender and adaptation to climate change from an intersectional and Political Ecology perspective. It argues for an multi-level framework that considers and relates three analytical levels: the political economic mechanisms of hierarchization, which shape the individual and collective scope of action through their material gender-, and class- or age specific effects, the effects of hegemonic representations and discourses, and the subject level in order to capture the identity political dynamics that contribute to unequal options for climate adaptation among subjects. It provides empirical illustrations from a case study in Mexico/Chiapas.


Author(s):  
Torbjørn Selseng ◽  
Marit Klemetsen ◽  
Tone Rusdal

AbstractIn recent decades, there has been a surge in the scholarship on climate change adaptation (CCA) terminology and diverging interpretations of the term has emerged. Given the crucial role of local governments in building society-wide adaptive capacity, understanding how municipalities understand and interpret CCA, is important. In this study, we analyse twelve large-scale questionnaires from 2007 to 2020 distributed to all Norwegian municipalities. Using a combination of directed and conventional content analysis of the questions and answers, we summarise and map the progress of adaptation work over the 14 years and assess the consistency and the scope of the surveys in light of the current research on climate adaptation. We find diverging views on what adaptation entails, both from the researchers, in the phrasing of questions, and from the respondents. The empirical evidence suggests an overall imbalanced interpretation of CCA, both in terms of the risks and consequences we may face, the climate that needs adapting to, as well as adequate adaptation strategies. We go on to discuss the implications of these findings, highlighting the need for a shared and well-communicated framework for local CCA and a closer monitoring of the actual efforts of the municipalities. If instead left unchecked, this confusion might lead to unsustainable maladaptation at the local government level throughout Norway and beyond.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Pardoe ◽  
Katharine Vincent ◽  
Declan Conway ◽  
Emma Archer ◽  
Andrew J. Dougill ◽  
...  

AbstractIn this paper, we use an inductive approach and longitudinal analysis to explore political influences on the emergence and evolution of climate change adaptation policy and planning at national level, as well as the institutions within which it is embedded, for three countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia). Data collection involved quantitative and qualitative methods applied over a 6-year period from 2012 to 2017. This included a survey of 103 government staff (20 in Malawi, 29 in Tanzania and 54 in Zambia) and 242 interviews (106 in Malawi, 86 in Tanzania and 50 in Zambia) with a wide range of stakeholders, many of whom were interviewed multiple times over the study period, together with content analysis of relevant policy and programme documents. Whilst the climate adaptation agenda emerged in all three countries around 2007–2009, associated with multilateral funding initiatives, the rate and nature of progress has varied—until roughly 2015 when, for different reasons, momentum slowed. We find differences between the countries in terms of specifics of how they operated, but roles of two factors in common emerge in the evolution of the climate change adaptation agendas: national leadership and allied political priorities, and the role of additional funding provided by donors. These influences lead to changes in the policy and institutional frameworks for addressing climate change, as well as in the emphasis placed on climate change adaptation. By examining the different ways through which ideas, power and resources converge and by learning from the specific configurations in the country examples, we identify opportunities to address existing barriers to action and thus present implications that enable more effective adaptation planning in other countries. We show that more socially just and inclusive national climate adaptation planning requires a critical approach to understanding these configurations of power and politics.


Author(s):  
Melanie Stroebel

There is little doubt that emissions from tourism must be reduced. A low carbon transition tends to be debated within the existing growth-centred and fossil fuel-driven political economy; this offers potentials but also sets limitations. The role of businesses in climate change is complex. From a political economy perspective, businesses are crucial actors in reducing emissions, simply through their decisions around products and operations. Yet a political economy approach also sees governance and business as interlinked. Businesses can influence governance, though they do not shape rules and norms in isolation. They are influenced by the dynamic regulatory, discursive, technological, and productive environment, in which they operate. This case study provides evidence from tour operators, which are addressing emissions from their products and operations, but also demonstrates that the context in which tourism businesses operate sets limitations to how much change may be implemented. The chapter argues that debates around a low carbon transition for tourism need to take into consideration the complexity of corporate, economic, environmental, political, and consumer interests and their links and interactions.


Author(s):  
Shigemi Kagawa ◽  
Daisuke Nishijima ◽  
Yuya Nakamoto

In order to achieve climate change mitigation goals, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Japan’s household sector is critical. Accomplishing a transition to low carbon and energy efficient consumer goods is particularly valuable as a policy tool for reducing emissions in the residential sector. This case study presents an analysis of the lifetime of personal vehicles in Japan, and considers the optimal scenario in terms of retention and disposal, specifically as it relates to GHG emissions. Using data from Japan, the case study shows the critical importance of including whole-of-life energy and carbon calculations when assessing the contributions that new technologies can make towards low carbon mobility transitions. While energy-efficiency gains are important, replacing technologies can overlook the energy and carbon embedded in the production phase. Without this perspective, policy designed to reduce GHG emissions may result in increased emissions and further exacerbate global climate change.


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