Adapting to climate change through local municipal planning: barriers and challenges

T G Measham; Benjamin Preston; Timothy F Smith; C Brooke; R Gorddard; G Withycombe; C Morrison

doi:10.1007/s11027-011-9301-2

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Adapting to climate change through local municipal planning: barriers and challenges

Journal article

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Adapting to climate change through local municipal planning: barriers and challenges

T G Measham, Benjamin Preston, Timothy F Smith, C Brooke, R Gorddard, G Withycombe and C Morrison

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Vol.16(8), pp.889-909

2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-011-9301-2

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Abstract

community engagement

institutional capacity

local adaptation

place-based planning

Sydney Australia

Municipal planning represents a key avenue for local adaptation, but is subject to recognised constraints. To date, these constraints have focused on simplistic factors such as limited resources and lack of information. In this paper we argue that this focus has obscured a wider set of constraints which need to be acknowledged and addressed if adaptation is likely to advance through municipal planning. Although these recognised constraints are relevant, we argue that what underpins these issues are more fundamental challenges affecting local, placed-based planning by drawing on the related field of community-based environmental planning (CBEP). In considering a wider set of constraints to practical attempts towards adaptation, the paper considers planning based on a case study of three municipalities in Sydney, Australia in 2008. The results demonstrate that climate adaptation was widely accepted as an important issue for planning conducted by local governments. However, it was yet to be embedded in planning practice which retained a strong mitigation bias in relation to climate change. In considering the case study, we draw attention to factors thus far under-acknowledged in the climate adaptation literature. These include leadership, institutional context and competing planning agendas. These factors can serve as constraints or enabling mechanisms for achieving climate adaptation depending upon how they are exploited in any given situation. The paper concludes that, through addressing these issues, local, place-based planning can play a greater role in achieving climate adaptation.

Details

Title: Adapting to climate change through local municipal planning: barriers and challenges
Authors: T G Measham (Author) - CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences
Benjamin Preston (Author) - Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Timothy F Smith (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health and Education
C Brooke (Author) - WWF-Australia
R Gorddard (Author) - CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences
G Withycombe (Author) - Sydney Coastal Council Group
C Morrison (Author) - Sydney Coastal Council Group
Publication details: Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Vol.16(8), pp.889-909
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Date published: 2011
DOI: 10.1007/s11027-011-9301-2
ISSN: 1381-2386; 1381-2386
Copyright note: Copyright © 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
Organisation Unit: School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99449754702621
Output Type: Journal article
Research Statement: false