Detailed Schedule
All conference events listed use United States/Eastern
Time
Check your respective time zone here.
Thursday, Nov 12, 2009
9:30-11am
The Role of Planning in Resilience to Climate Change
Cities, Climate Change and the Role of Urban Planning: A Global Perspective
Dr. Naison Mutizwa-Mangiza / United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) is Chief of the organization's Policy Analysis Branch. The Branch is responsible for preparing the UN Global Report on Human Settlements, of which Naison is the Chief Editor. The report is published every two years and is the UN’s most authoritative global assessment of human settlements conditions and trends. The 2011 issue of the report, currently under preparation, will be on “Cities and Climate Change”. A Zimbabwean national, Naison holds an MA in Geography and a PhD in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge, UK. Before joining UN-HABITAT in 1991, he was a professor in the Department of Rural and Urban Planning at the University of Zimbabwe and was the founding chairman of the department. He was also chairman of Zimbabwe’s Urban Development Corporation (UDCORP) from 1989 to 1991
Description: The presentation will briefly describe the contribution of cities to climate change and the impacts of climate change on cities. It will next discuss the mitigation and adaptation measures that cities are taking, and should take, in response to climate change. In doing so, the presentation will indicate the interconnectedness of mitigation and adaptation responses and their role in building resilience at the city level. The presentation will then highlight the role of urban planning in enhancing the climate change resilience of cities. Finally, the presentation will briefly describe the efforts that the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) is making in raising global awareness of the role of cities in climate change and in supporting governments and urban authorities to formulate and implement city level climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and policies.
Climate Change 101: Scientists and Planners Need to Work Together
Dr. Phil Hill / Natural Resources Canada is the former Program Manager for Natural Resources Canada’s program on Enhancing Resilience in a Changing Climate. A graduate of Oxford and Dalhousie Universities, he has more than 25 years of experience in marine geological research. From 2003 to 2006, he led a multidisciplinary study the Roberts Bank tidal flats that evaluated the impacts of rising sea level on coastal infrastructure and ecosystems. He later managed a national program that aimed to provide objective geoscience and geomatics research to assist Canadians in understanding, preparing for, and adapting to the effects of changing climate. He is presently Acting Director of the Geological Survey of Canada – Pacific.
Description: The talk will present a brief overview of the science of climate change and the need for adaptation. Using the example of collaboration between the Canadian Institute of Planners and Natural Resources Canada, a federal government science department, some ideas about how climate change science can be integrated into planning for an uncertain future will be presented.
12-1:30pm
Majuli (India): A Lost Cause or Ongoing Adaptation to Climate Change?
Urmi Buragohain / Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning, Doha, Qatar
Description: The (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee…defers the examination of the nomination of the river island of Majuli…in order to allow the State Party to…undertake an appraisal of the overall (Brahmaputra) river basin in which Majuli lies and the potential impact of upstream development, deforestation and building of dams, in order to ascertain whether managed retreat is the only realistic approach to the flooding and erosion process.
But why does Majuli still continue to exist and defy all odds? Majuli’s resilience to internal and external shocks including climate change comes not from the ‘formal’, top-down responses to the physiographical and geo-morphological challenges, but from the social capital inherent in the traditional cultural and religious groups and institutions. While the concept of social capital and its relation to resiliency to climate change is not new, what sets Majuli apart is the historical continuum of the traditional and religious institutional networks and its continuous adaptation to its unique physiographic setting.
4-5:30pm
Best Practices in Reducing Green House Gases (GHG) in British Columbia, Canada
Addressing Climate Change in the Comox Valley Regional District
Pino Di Mascio and Elsa Fancello / Urban Strategies, Inc.
Description: In British Columbia, local governments are now mandated under Bill 27, The Local Government (Green Communities) Statutes Act, to incorporate targets to reduce GHG emissions and to create policies and actions to achieve those targets into their Official Community Plans and Regional Growth Strategies. Recognizing that the majority of local governments do not have the expertise or the resources to get started on such an ambitious initiative, in spring 2009, British Columbia’s Ministry of the Environment, released preliminary Community Energy and Emissions Inventory (CEEI) data, which tracks emissions for each of the 185 local governments. As part of our ongoing work in creating a Regional Growth Strategy for the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, Urban Strategies recently prepared a significant analysis of local climate change issues based on these new Provincial initiatives and data. This presentation will focus on those findings. In particular, it will provide an overview of British Columbia’s climate‐change legislation, examine the observations drawn from our analysis and outline points for discussion on climate change strategies.
Carbon Neutral Kootenays Project
Ramona Mattix, AICP, MICP / Regional District of Central Kootenay
Description: Local Governments across the Kootenay Region favourably responded to the Climate Action Charter and agreed to work towards carbon neutrality by 2012. The Premier’s invitation to sign onto the BC Climate Action Charter was the catalyst for this unique project. Initially, there was some confusion about where to start, particularly when all but one community are smaller than 10,000 people. The three Chairs of the Regional District of East Kootenay, Kootenay Boundary, and Central Kootenay decided if this project were to materialize across the Kootenays, it was time to join forces and work together as one project as opposed to 30 or so independent projects. The notion of three Regional Districts working together attracted the attention of the Columbia Basin Trust and shortly thereafter, they became a partner and a leading voice for the project. With the assistance of the Sheltair Group (now Stantec) and the Community Energy Association, every local government will receive: a baseline energy and emissions inventory, opportunities to learn about climate change and build capacity for future tracking and reporting requirements, and recommendations to enable local governments to make smart choices in order to achieve carbon neutrality. The three Regional Districts recognize this is a long term project and our unique partnership will create lasting leadership opportunities for all local governments and First Nation communities within the Kootenay region and beyond. This presentation highlights this effort.
6-7:30pm
Improving Samoa’s Resilience to Climate Change through Award Winning Coastal Planning
Namouta Poutasi / Beca and Tagaloa Jude Kohlhase / Planning and Urban Management Agency, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Government of Samoa
Description: The effects of climate change (through sea level rise and changing weather patterns) are a major concern for Pacific island countries – on their people, the environment and their economy. The Government of Samoa, Beca and the World Bank, has completed a 6 year project to develop 41 District local implementation plans for all Samoa’s coastline. The plans are known as Coastal Infrastructure Asset Management Plans (CIM Plans) and provide a step by step guide how to improve the resilience of local communities from climate change – cyclones, coastal erosion, inundation and landslips. They also provide a framework on how to recover from natural disaster as well as putting in place measures to deal with emergency situations. The CIM Plans also identify the adverse effects of certain land uses on the sensitive coastal environment and encourage a sustainable management approach. Developed through an extensive consultation process, the CIM plans provide for the reduction and avoidance of future costs by establishing a programme of actions to protect local and national infrastructure (roads, houses, churches, schools etc) from Tsunamis and cyclones. Whilst there will be cost implications associated with undertaking protection works, the plans also empower the community to assist with their implementation. This has been proven in reduced recovery and rebuilding costs following more recent cyclones. The project was awarded the NZPI Nancy Northcroft Planning Practice Award in 2008.
8-9pm
Virtual Networking
Friday, Nov 13, 2009
12-1pm
Virtual Networking
1:30-3pm Drowned Villages and Resilient Communities (England)
Dr Katharine A Martindale / Cities Research Alliance
Description: Two years on from severe flooding in several regions in England, that the media described as ‘the worst in living memory’, how do communities and government offices perceive the analysis of flood risk and the management and mitigation of flooding? Using the county of Staffordshire as the primary case study, this research asks three questions. First, how do the perceptions and understanding of flood risk, management and mitigation differ between Category 1 Responders and residents? Second, how do Category 1 Responders communicate with local residents, both in preparation for floods and during flooding, and how successful is this considered to be? Third, how do these perceptions affect responses to planning applications for future housing on land considered to be at a risk of flooding? This research uses both quantitative and qualitative data sources including newspaper and media reports, national and local government documents, industry publications, an online questionnaire aimed at collecting the opinions of Staffordshire’s residents, and semi structured interviews with key stakeholders. Interviewees include members of Staffordshire Civil Contingencies Unit, Staffordshire County Council, Staffordshire fire and police services, Litchfield District Council, the Environment Agency and the Government Office for the West Midlands.
3:30-5pm
Theoretical framework for transferability of knowledge in community interventions: applicability to combat climate change
Diwakar K. Vadapalli / Center for Urban Poverty and Community Development, Case Western Reserve University
Description: Melting of permafrost due to climate change threatens real estate in remote parts of Alaska. Remote rural tribal communities in Alaska depend on rivers for transportation, and sustenance among other things that impact their well-being. Due to erosion they are often forced to move their houses and other buildings further from the bank periodically. Such endeavor is both disruptive and expensive. Sleetmute (population 100) is one such community on the banks of Kuskokwim. Cash-strapped and vulnerable, most such communities spend substantial amounts of their meager resources trying to find ways out of this bind. Although Sleetmute is not yet threatened by the river erosion, effects of climate change are evident from the uprooted trees, changes in vegetation, dispersed and displaced wild life, sinking buildings, and rutted roads due to melting of permafrost. Several other concerns such as poverty, alcoholism, child abuse/neglect, domestic violence, unemployment, unskilled/low skilled workforce, and scant/poor housing were also considered as potential issues to address as part of the planning process. For a small village with minimal resources, an integrated process of community planning and development that would address several issues – along with the potentially devastating effects of climate change – at once was a daunting task. This presentation is an attempt to build a theoretical framework that draws from my own experience as a community development professional in Sleetmute during the years 2004-2006. Drawing from Sen’s capability approach, Bourdieu’s notion of capital, long standing debate of agency-structure, and restricting the unit of analysis to the ‘community’ this presentation is an attempt to build a coherent theoretical framework and propose a few testable hypotheses for the much debated and widely practiced field of community planning and development.
5:30-7pm
Adaptive Planning on the Provincial Level in Atlantic Canada
Integrated Approach to Planning and Climate Change in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador
Paul Jordan, MCIP, RPP / New Brunswick Department of Environment
Description: In 2008 the four Atlantic Provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador) prepared a “Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for Atlantic Canada”. The Strategy set the foundation for the four jurisdictions to work together on common adaptation issues. As part of that collaboration, the four Atlantic Provinces with the Province of New Brunswick being the lead created the Atlantic Regional Adaptation Collaborative. The Collaboratives goal is to create tools for local decision-makers and professionals, including land use planners, engineers and municipal staff. As the lead of this Collaboration the Province of New Brunswick brings to the table a wealth of experience in putting into practice an Integrated Approach to Planning and Adapting to Climate Change. This presentation focuses on the planning approach and strategies that the Department of the Environment in the Province of New Brunswick has adopted in response to this important collaborative initiative.
Sustainable Community Design: A New Language Pattern for Subdivisions in New Brunswick
Daniel Savard / Province of New Brunswick – Department of Environment
Description: Usually, conventional subdivision of properties results in destruction of the natural environment, steep costs for stormwater management and inefficiencies energy wise. In addition, it contributes to the release in the environment of GHG and contributes to negative effects associated with climate change. By using the sustainable community design (or conservation design) (SCD) to plan subdivisions it is possible for communities to protect, in addition to the environmental constraint areas, the significant features in areas of the property where it is sensitive environmentally, significant historically and culturally, and scenic. As well, the developer can build the same number of units that zoning would allow in a conventional manner, and meet climate change objectives as indicated in the Provincial Government’s Action Plan. This concept is promoted and applied in the Province of New Brunswick. This presentation focuses on the project of Le Village en haut du Ruisseau in Dieppe (NB), which is being built and represents the showcase for the Province and which is one of eight projects in New Brunswick at different levels of implementation.
Saturday, Nov 14, 2009
12-1:30pm New Ways To Make The Case for Resilience
Climate Change to Be Counteracted by Planning
Prof.dr. Roger A.F. Smook, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Description: The phenomenon of a changing climate is part of today’s world. The planner can in his work hardly counteract the negative influences on the change of climate as we now are accustomed to. Reduction of mobility with polluting means of transport will not help, designing energy friendly neighborhoods can’t possibly counteract the autonomous processes in Climate Change. This presentation focuses on how planners should concentrate on making a smooth adaptation feasible given the world’s changing circumstances. A shift from small scale thinking in inadequate measurements to large scale proposals for reallocating functions and cities requires a redesign of the entire habitat of endangered societies.
A Risk Assessment Model for Community Adaptation
Michael Cote / UMass-Amherst and Vermont Law School
Description: With no federal or state legislation on the horizon, many communities are left without assistance or policy guidance with respect to climate change impacts. In other words, it is up to local communities to adapt. Impacts on Southern New England include sea-level rise, higher precipitation, and more variable temperatures. Communities with sensitive floodplains, watersheds, coastlines, agriculture, and other vulnerable infrastructure will be most affected. Erosion and accretion will affect coastal property boundaries and sensitive estuaries. Inland farms will experience longer growing seasons, creating the need for heavier pesticide sprays. And cities with high impervious coverage will experience engineering troubles from more intense storms and temperature flux. There are two take home messages from this session: 1) Where to access important, but understandable climate science data and 2) Create a risk assessment model for the basis of an adaptation plan for your community.
2-3pm
Virtual Networking
3:30-5pm
Resilience and Adaptation in Central Canada
Ontario’s Planning System, Climate Change and the Creation of Resilient Communities in Ontario, Canada
Dan Tovey / Ministry of Municipal and Housing, Government of Ontario and Thelma Gee / Ministry of Municipal and Housing, Government of Ontario
Description: Is Ontario’s planning system resilient to climate change? Is our approach to mitigating and adapting to global warming effective? What are the lessons from the provincial experience? Over the next four decades, the province of Ontario is committed to meeting targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by the year 2050. To do so, provincial actions have and will be taken on many fronts. From a land-use perspective, an enabling planning system was created to provide all our communities with the flexibility needed to meet the environmental challenges of climate change within a broader framework of sustainable economic, social and environmental development. Our presentation addresses the why, what and how of Ontario’s planning system approach that was developed and enhanced over the last decade, to embrace climate change and sustainability needs. This talk will also showcase key provincial publications that support community climate change efforts and share and generate ideas through national and international case studies on how others are implementing innovative plans, projects and programs to meet climate change needs. In the process, insights will be shared on what we have learned as a province as planning support is given to expand community capacity so that they may effectively respond to global warming needs.
Sustainable Neighbourhood Retrofit Action Plan (SNAPs) for County Court, Brampton, Canada
Shannon Logan / Toronto Region Conservation Authority and Karen Nasmith / planningAlliance
Description: Our presentation will showcase a Sustainable Neighbourhood Retrofit Action Plan (SNAP) for the County Court community in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. County Court is a 30 year old community located at the south gateway to the city, and is characterized by a highly diverse population and development form that ranges from residential, commercial, institutional and recreational open space. As a retrofit plan for an existing community with a diverse population, the SNAP will demonstrate for planners, engineers and environmental and social managers, the issues on how to accelerate the transformation of existing communities towards urban sustainability. The plan will examine how the existing built form can become more climate friendly with a focus on improved stormwater management practices and infrastructure, increased water and energy conservation; green buildings and enhanced natural heritage and urban forest. At the same time, the plan will illustrate an innovative way to engage the community to make them active stakeholders in retrofitting their own properties and behaviours to increase adaptive capacity and improve overall resiliency.
5:30-7pm
City / County Adaptation Strategies in the Southwestern United States
Sustainable Redevelopment in Downtown Los Angeles
Edward Huang / Community Redevelopment Agency, City of Los Angeles
Description: The presentation showcases various approaches taken in Downtown Los Angeles in response to climate change. The case study will specifically address one the conference sub-theme – Revitalization, Renewal and Regeneration – as to what effective mechanisms have been employed in revitalizing the downtown of the 2nd largest city in the US to make the area resilient to climate change.
Monitoring Programs as Agents of Change: Case Study- Clark County Monitoring Program, Clark County, Nevada
Dr. Sheila Conway / Urban Environmental Research, Abhilasha Wadhwa, LEED AP / Urban Environmental Research and Irene Navis / Clark County Nuclear Waste Division
Description: Community Indicator programs, or monitoring programs, when successfully designed and implemented, serve as instruments for tracking as well as influencing change. This two-way relation imparts a unique role to these programs during times of major economic, cultural, and/or political change as actions link to outcomes with a results based accountability method. These programs thus become platforms not only for the development of agency-specific action plans but also as the ‘binding glue’ that brings together inter-agency cooperation and dialogue. A seminal example of such a program is the Clark County Monitoring program (CCMP), which was initially conceived to cater to Clark County’s oversight responsibilities for tracking social, economic and environmental indicators and gauging potential impacts that may result from the shipment of high-level nuclear waste to the Yucca Mountain. Most recently, Clark County has incorporated the program into its growth initiative as a public outreach tool for sustainability. This presentation offers an in-depth description of the key steps that went into the research design and implementation of the program from its inception, including identification of key issues and trends, review of departmental strategic plans, agency feedback, analysis and development, and pilot testing and implementation. The presentation then discusses another monitoring program conceived for the city of Glendale, Arizona which emphasizes the commonalities and benefits of strategic planning that monitoring programs offer. Finally, the presentation takes us to the future evolution of the Clark County monitoring program which will bring together utility providers, renewable energy vendors, not-for-profits, local governments and citizens, to develop a regional carbon management tool that would provide accurate energy use and CO2 emissions information to consumers, help target conservation efforts to high priority areas for officials, and bring together locally available resources into a central information base.
Conference schedule subject to change at the discretion of the conference planning committee based on presenter availability or technical requirements
Check your respective time zone here.
Thursday, Nov 12, 2009
9:30-11am
The Role of Planning in Resilience to Climate Change
Cities, Climate Change and the Role of Urban Planning: A Global Perspective
Dr. Naison Mutizwa-Mangiza / United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) is Chief of the organization's Policy Analysis Branch. The Branch is responsible for preparing the UN Global Report on Human Settlements, of which Naison is the Chief Editor. The report is published every two years and is the UN’s most authoritative global assessment of human settlements conditions and trends. The 2011 issue of the report, currently under preparation, will be on “Cities and Climate Change”. A Zimbabwean national, Naison holds an MA in Geography and a PhD in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge, UK. Before joining UN-HABITAT in 1991, he was a professor in the Department of Rural and Urban Planning at the University of Zimbabwe and was the founding chairman of the department. He was also chairman of Zimbabwe’s Urban Development Corporation (UDCORP) from 1989 to 1991
Description: The presentation will briefly describe the contribution of cities to climate change and the impacts of climate change on cities. It will next discuss the mitigation and adaptation measures that cities are taking, and should take, in response to climate change. In doing so, the presentation will indicate the interconnectedness of mitigation and adaptation responses and their role in building resilience at the city level. The presentation will then highlight the role of urban planning in enhancing the climate change resilience of cities. Finally, the presentation will briefly describe the efforts that the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) is making in raising global awareness of the role of cities in climate change and in supporting governments and urban authorities to formulate and implement city level climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and policies.
Climate Change 101: Scientists and Planners Need to Work Together
Dr. Phil Hill / Natural Resources Canada is the former Program Manager for Natural Resources Canada’s program on Enhancing Resilience in a Changing Climate. A graduate of Oxford and Dalhousie Universities, he has more than 25 years of experience in marine geological research. From 2003 to 2006, he led a multidisciplinary study the Roberts Bank tidal flats that evaluated the impacts of rising sea level on coastal infrastructure and ecosystems. He later managed a national program that aimed to provide objective geoscience and geomatics research to assist Canadians in understanding, preparing for, and adapting to the effects of changing climate. He is presently Acting Director of the Geological Survey of Canada – Pacific.
Description: The talk will present a brief overview of the science of climate change and the need for adaptation. Using the example of collaboration between the Canadian Institute of Planners and Natural Resources Canada, a federal government science department, some ideas about how climate change science can be integrated into planning for an uncertain future will be presented.
12-1:30pm
Majuli (India): A Lost Cause or Ongoing Adaptation to Climate Change?
Urmi Buragohain / Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning, Doha, Qatar
Description: The (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee…defers the examination of the nomination of the river island of Majuli…in order to allow the State Party to…undertake an appraisal of the overall (Brahmaputra) river basin in which Majuli lies and the potential impact of upstream development, deforestation and building of dams, in order to ascertain whether managed retreat is the only realistic approach to the flooding and erosion process.
But why does Majuli still continue to exist and defy all odds? Majuli’s resilience to internal and external shocks including climate change comes not from the ‘formal’, top-down responses to the physiographical and geo-morphological challenges, but from the social capital inherent in the traditional cultural and religious groups and institutions. While the concept of social capital and its relation to resiliency to climate change is not new, what sets Majuli apart is the historical continuum of the traditional and religious institutional networks and its continuous adaptation to its unique physiographic setting.
4-5:30pm
Best Practices in Reducing Green House Gases (GHG) in British Columbia, Canada
Addressing Climate Change in the Comox Valley Regional District
Pino Di Mascio and Elsa Fancello / Urban Strategies, Inc.
Description: In British Columbia, local governments are now mandated under Bill 27, The Local Government (Green Communities) Statutes Act, to incorporate targets to reduce GHG emissions and to create policies and actions to achieve those targets into their Official Community Plans and Regional Growth Strategies. Recognizing that the majority of local governments do not have the expertise or the resources to get started on such an ambitious initiative, in spring 2009, British Columbia’s Ministry of the Environment, released preliminary Community Energy and Emissions Inventory (CEEI) data, which tracks emissions for each of the 185 local governments. As part of our ongoing work in creating a Regional Growth Strategy for the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, Urban Strategies recently prepared a significant analysis of local climate change issues based on these new Provincial initiatives and data. This presentation will focus on those findings. In particular, it will provide an overview of British Columbia’s climate‐change legislation, examine the observations drawn from our analysis and outline points for discussion on climate change strategies.
Carbon Neutral Kootenays Project
Ramona Mattix, AICP, MICP / Regional District of Central Kootenay
Description: Local Governments across the Kootenay Region favourably responded to the Climate Action Charter and agreed to work towards carbon neutrality by 2012. The Premier’s invitation to sign onto the BC Climate Action Charter was the catalyst for this unique project. Initially, there was some confusion about where to start, particularly when all but one community are smaller than 10,000 people. The three Chairs of the Regional District of East Kootenay, Kootenay Boundary, and Central Kootenay decided if this project were to materialize across the Kootenays, it was time to join forces and work together as one project as opposed to 30 or so independent projects. The notion of three Regional Districts working together attracted the attention of the Columbia Basin Trust and shortly thereafter, they became a partner and a leading voice for the project. With the assistance of the Sheltair Group (now Stantec) and the Community Energy Association, every local government will receive: a baseline energy and emissions inventory, opportunities to learn about climate change and build capacity for future tracking and reporting requirements, and recommendations to enable local governments to make smart choices in order to achieve carbon neutrality. The three Regional Districts recognize this is a long term project and our unique partnership will create lasting leadership opportunities for all local governments and First Nation communities within the Kootenay region and beyond. This presentation highlights this effort.
6-7:30pm
Improving Samoa’s Resilience to Climate Change through Award Winning Coastal Planning
Namouta Poutasi / Beca and Tagaloa Jude Kohlhase / Planning and Urban Management Agency, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Government of Samoa
Description: The effects of climate change (through sea level rise and changing weather patterns) are a major concern for Pacific island countries – on their people, the environment and their economy. The Government of Samoa, Beca and the World Bank, has completed a 6 year project to develop 41 District local implementation plans for all Samoa’s coastline. The plans are known as Coastal Infrastructure Asset Management Plans (CIM Plans) and provide a step by step guide how to improve the resilience of local communities from climate change – cyclones, coastal erosion, inundation and landslips. They also provide a framework on how to recover from natural disaster as well as putting in place measures to deal with emergency situations. The CIM Plans also identify the adverse effects of certain land uses on the sensitive coastal environment and encourage a sustainable management approach. Developed through an extensive consultation process, the CIM plans provide for the reduction and avoidance of future costs by establishing a programme of actions to protect local and national infrastructure (roads, houses, churches, schools etc) from Tsunamis and cyclones. Whilst there will be cost implications associated with undertaking protection works, the plans also empower the community to assist with their implementation. This has been proven in reduced recovery and rebuilding costs following more recent cyclones. The project was awarded the NZPI Nancy Northcroft Planning Practice Award in 2008.
8-9pm
Virtual Networking
Friday, Nov 13, 2009
12-1pm
Virtual Networking
1:30-3pm Drowned Villages and Resilient Communities (England)
Dr Katharine A Martindale / Cities Research Alliance
Description: Two years on from severe flooding in several regions in England, that the media described as ‘the worst in living memory’, how do communities and government offices perceive the analysis of flood risk and the management and mitigation of flooding? Using the county of Staffordshire as the primary case study, this research asks three questions. First, how do the perceptions and understanding of flood risk, management and mitigation differ between Category 1 Responders and residents? Second, how do Category 1 Responders communicate with local residents, both in preparation for floods and during flooding, and how successful is this considered to be? Third, how do these perceptions affect responses to planning applications for future housing on land considered to be at a risk of flooding? This research uses both quantitative and qualitative data sources including newspaper and media reports, national and local government documents, industry publications, an online questionnaire aimed at collecting the opinions of Staffordshire’s residents, and semi structured interviews with key stakeholders. Interviewees include members of Staffordshire Civil Contingencies Unit, Staffordshire County Council, Staffordshire fire and police services, Litchfield District Council, the Environment Agency and the Government Office for the West Midlands.
3:30-5pm
Theoretical framework for transferability of knowledge in community interventions: applicability to combat climate change
Diwakar K. Vadapalli / Center for Urban Poverty and Community Development, Case Western Reserve University
Description: Melting of permafrost due to climate change threatens real estate in remote parts of Alaska. Remote rural tribal communities in Alaska depend on rivers for transportation, and sustenance among other things that impact their well-being. Due to erosion they are often forced to move their houses and other buildings further from the bank periodically. Such endeavor is both disruptive and expensive. Sleetmute (population 100) is one such community on the banks of Kuskokwim. Cash-strapped and vulnerable, most such communities spend substantial amounts of their meager resources trying to find ways out of this bind. Although Sleetmute is not yet threatened by the river erosion, effects of climate change are evident from the uprooted trees, changes in vegetation, dispersed and displaced wild life, sinking buildings, and rutted roads due to melting of permafrost. Several other concerns such as poverty, alcoholism, child abuse/neglect, domestic violence, unemployment, unskilled/low skilled workforce, and scant/poor housing were also considered as potential issues to address as part of the planning process. For a small village with minimal resources, an integrated process of community planning and development that would address several issues – along with the potentially devastating effects of climate change – at once was a daunting task. This presentation is an attempt to build a theoretical framework that draws from my own experience as a community development professional in Sleetmute during the years 2004-2006. Drawing from Sen’s capability approach, Bourdieu’s notion of capital, long standing debate of agency-structure, and restricting the unit of analysis to the ‘community’ this presentation is an attempt to build a coherent theoretical framework and propose a few testable hypotheses for the much debated and widely practiced field of community planning and development.
5:30-7pm
Adaptive Planning on the Provincial Level in Atlantic Canada
Integrated Approach to Planning and Climate Change in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador
Paul Jordan, MCIP, RPP / New Brunswick Department of Environment
Description: In 2008 the four Atlantic Provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador) prepared a “Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for Atlantic Canada”. The Strategy set the foundation for the four jurisdictions to work together on common adaptation issues. As part of that collaboration, the four Atlantic Provinces with the Province of New Brunswick being the lead created the Atlantic Regional Adaptation Collaborative. The Collaboratives goal is to create tools for local decision-makers and professionals, including land use planners, engineers and municipal staff. As the lead of this Collaboration the Province of New Brunswick brings to the table a wealth of experience in putting into practice an Integrated Approach to Planning and Adapting to Climate Change. This presentation focuses on the planning approach and strategies that the Department of the Environment in the Province of New Brunswick has adopted in response to this important collaborative initiative.
Sustainable Community Design: A New Language Pattern for Subdivisions in New Brunswick
Daniel Savard / Province of New Brunswick – Department of Environment
Description: Usually, conventional subdivision of properties results in destruction of the natural environment, steep costs for stormwater management and inefficiencies energy wise. In addition, it contributes to the release in the environment of GHG and contributes to negative effects associated with climate change. By using the sustainable community design (or conservation design) (SCD) to plan subdivisions it is possible for communities to protect, in addition to the environmental constraint areas, the significant features in areas of the property where it is sensitive environmentally, significant historically and culturally, and scenic. As well, the developer can build the same number of units that zoning would allow in a conventional manner, and meet climate change objectives as indicated in the Provincial Government’s Action Plan. This concept is promoted and applied in the Province of New Brunswick. This presentation focuses on the project of Le Village en haut du Ruisseau in Dieppe (NB), which is being built and represents the showcase for the Province and which is one of eight projects in New Brunswick at different levels of implementation.
Saturday, Nov 14, 2009
12-1:30pm New Ways To Make The Case for Resilience
Climate Change to Be Counteracted by Planning
Prof.dr. Roger A.F. Smook, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Description: The phenomenon of a changing climate is part of today’s world. The planner can in his work hardly counteract the negative influences on the change of climate as we now are accustomed to. Reduction of mobility with polluting means of transport will not help, designing energy friendly neighborhoods can’t possibly counteract the autonomous processes in Climate Change. This presentation focuses on how planners should concentrate on making a smooth adaptation feasible given the world’s changing circumstances. A shift from small scale thinking in inadequate measurements to large scale proposals for reallocating functions and cities requires a redesign of the entire habitat of endangered societies.
A Risk Assessment Model for Community Adaptation
Michael Cote / UMass-Amherst and Vermont Law School
Description: With no federal or state legislation on the horizon, many communities are left without assistance or policy guidance with respect to climate change impacts. In other words, it is up to local communities to adapt. Impacts on Southern New England include sea-level rise, higher precipitation, and more variable temperatures. Communities with sensitive floodplains, watersheds, coastlines, agriculture, and other vulnerable infrastructure will be most affected. Erosion and accretion will affect coastal property boundaries and sensitive estuaries. Inland farms will experience longer growing seasons, creating the need for heavier pesticide sprays. And cities with high impervious coverage will experience engineering troubles from more intense storms and temperature flux. There are two take home messages from this session: 1) Where to access important, but understandable climate science data and 2) Create a risk assessment model for the basis of an adaptation plan for your community.
2-3pm
Virtual Networking
3:30-5pm
Resilience and Adaptation in Central Canada
Ontario’s Planning System, Climate Change and the Creation of Resilient Communities in Ontario, Canada
Dan Tovey / Ministry of Municipal and Housing, Government of Ontario and Thelma Gee / Ministry of Municipal and Housing, Government of Ontario
Description: Is Ontario’s planning system resilient to climate change? Is our approach to mitigating and adapting to global warming effective? What are the lessons from the provincial experience? Over the next four decades, the province of Ontario is committed to meeting targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by the year 2050. To do so, provincial actions have and will be taken on many fronts. From a land-use perspective, an enabling planning system was created to provide all our communities with the flexibility needed to meet the environmental challenges of climate change within a broader framework of sustainable economic, social and environmental development. Our presentation addresses the why, what and how of Ontario’s planning system approach that was developed and enhanced over the last decade, to embrace climate change and sustainability needs. This talk will also showcase key provincial publications that support community climate change efforts and share and generate ideas through national and international case studies on how others are implementing innovative plans, projects and programs to meet climate change needs. In the process, insights will be shared on what we have learned as a province as planning support is given to expand community capacity so that they may effectively respond to global warming needs.
Sustainable Neighbourhood Retrofit Action Plan (SNAPs) for County Court, Brampton, Canada
Shannon Logan / Toronto Region Conservation Authority and Karen Nasmith / planningAlliance
Description: Our presentation will showcase a Sustainable Neighbourhood Retrofit Action Plan (SNAP) for the County Court community in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. County Court is a 30 year old community located at the south gateway to the city, and is characterized by a highly diverse population and development form that ranges from residential, commercial, institutional and recreational open space. As a retrofit plan for an existing community with a diverse population, the SNAP will demonstrate for planners, engineers and environmental and social managers, the issues on how to accelerate the transformation of existing communities towards urban sustainability. The plan will examine how the existing built form can become more climate friendly with a focus on improved stormwater management practices and infrastructure, increased water and energy conservation; green buildings and enhanced natural heritage and urban forest. At the same time, the plan will illustrate an innovative way to engage the community to make them active stakeholders in retrofitting their own properties and behaviours to increase adaptive capacity and improve overall resiliency.
5:30-7pm
City / County Adaptation Strategies in the Southwestern United States
Sustainable Redevelopment in Downtown Los Angeles
Edward Huang / Community Redevelopment Agency, City of Los Angeles
Description: The presentation showcases various approaches taken in Downtown Los Angeles in response to climate change. The case study will specifically address one the conference sub-theme – Revitalization, Renewal and Regeneration – as to what effective mechanisms have been employed in revitalizing the downtown of the 2nd largest city in the US to make the area resilient to climate change.
Monitoring Programs as Agents of Change: Case Study- Clark County Monitoring Program, Clark County, Nevada
Dr. Sheila Conway / Urban Environmental Research, Abhilasha Wadhwa, LEED AP / Urban Environmental Research and Irene Navis / Clark County Nuclear Waste Division
Description: Community Indicator programs, or monitoring programs, when successfully designed and implemented, serve as instruments for tracking as well as influencing change. This two-way relation imparts a unique role to these programs during times of major economic, cultural, and/or political change as actions link to outcomes with a results based accountability method. These programs thus become platforms not only for the development of agency-specific action plans but also as the ‘binding glue’ that brings together inter-agency cooperation and dialogue. A seminal example of such a program is the Clark County Monitoring program (CCMP), which was initially conceived to cater to Clark County’s oversight responsibilities for tracking social, economic and environmental indicators and gauging potential impacts that may result from the shipment of high-level nuclear waste to the Yucca Mountain. Most recently, Clark County has incorporated the program into its growth initiative as a public outreach tool for sustainability. This presentation offers an in-depth description of the key steps that went into the research design and implementation of the program from its inception, including identification of key issues and trends, review of departmental strategic plans, agency feedback, analysis and development, and pilot testing and implementation. The presentation then discusses another monitoring program conceived for the city of Glendale, Arizona which emphasizes the commonalities and benefits of strategic planning that monitoring programs offer. Finally, the presentation takes us to the future evolution of the Clark County monitoring program which will bring together utility providers, renewable energy vendors, not-for-profits, local governments and citizens, to develop a regional carbon management tool that would provide accurate energy use and CO2 emissions information to consumers, help target conservation efforts to high priority areas for officials, and bring together locally available resources into a central information base.
Conference schedule subject to change at the discretion of the conference planning committee based on presenter availability or technical requirements
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