Adaptive Urban Planning By STEVE FOX
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Don Ryan © AP Images
lthough cities occupy just two percent of the world’s landmass, they consume more than two-thirds of the world’s energy and are responsible for more than 70 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a New York-headquartered coalition of 97 global megacities (including five Indian cities), that supports sustainable action on climate change. As temperatures rise due to climate change, dense metropolitan areas are likely to be affected in a more pronounced manner than other areas. Additionally, with many of the world’s largest cities located on coastlines, urban areas face huge risks from rising sea levels and devastating coastal storms, which are both effects of climate change. “Cities are not only the main cause of climate change but also the most affected,” says Rohit Vijay Tak, a Fulbright-Nehru Master’s Fellow in urban design at the University of California, Berkeley and manager in the Sustainable Cities: Urban Transport and Road Safety program at the World Resources Institute India.
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“While newly planned cities can be developed considering climate change, it’s the inhabited cities where the challenges are more complex,” says Tak. “More than half of the world’s population lives in such urban areas, which are responsible for about 75 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. To mitigate this challenge, cities need to limit their greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the demand for energy, developing greener energy alternatives and supporting more sustainable lifestyles.” Policies that target specific industries have proven quite effective, says Shalini Sharma, a Postdoctoral Fulbright-Nehru Environment Leadership Fellow at Columbia University who is now chief executive officer at the Sanshodhan E-Waste Exchange in Hyderabad. “In India, the government has mandated that the construction sector use a minimum of 30 percent renewable energy,” she says. “This has been a great strategy, as it can reduce 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from this sector.” Tak notes that cities must also respond to
