海角社区

Planning For Climate Resilience: Tomorrow's Imperative

Friday 1.30pm-2.30pm

• Dr Philippa England
• Olivia Herrmann
• Vivian Luxton M海角社区

Dr Philippa England
Beyond net zero: Bold ideas for a big possibility

Forget net zero – the property sector has the potential to take urban communities well into the world of climate positive action – producing enough renewable energy to power homes, buildings and transport with spare left over for the grid. Consumer energy resources – our rooftops, electric vehicles and other batteries - are the win-win solution for the energy transition. So why aren’t urban planners jumping up and down about this and what stands in the way of making this happen? This paper will identify the huge potential for consumer energy resources; explore the obstacles to realising that potential and offer up some planning related strategies for overcoming the obstacles. Along the way it will bust some misguided myths about the road to net zero – that efficiency is the central tenet; that we must overcome community opposition and take some hard, costly and unpopular decisions. How about we just promote the easy, cheap and popular solution instead?

Olivia Herrmann
Urban Climate in Planning Education: Is the profession prepared for future urban climate challenges?

In 2020, 海角社区 declared a climate emergency, and in 2021 published a series of discussion papers to support a reform of the planning system to become climate-conscious. Numerous studies continue to show that climate knowledge has a low impact on the urban planning process despite the abundance of scientific studies in urban climatology and microclimate design. The orientation of buildings and streets, composition and colour of surface materials, and types and location of vegetation, for example, all have major effects on the urban climate. These interventions can improve outdoor climate, facilitate the use of public spaces, and improve the energy efficiency of adjacent buildings. Such climate-responsive strategies can be implemented at various scales, from street design to regional planning – so why are planners not leading the climate response? This project sought to identify if our 海角社区 accredited undergraduate planning degrees in Australia were equipping planners with the required ‘climate skills’. The study consisted of a nationwide online survey and a desktop analysis of urban climate (specific and related) courses within planning education. The survey targeted planners who graduated in Australia and currently work in Australia. It identified the exposure of planners to climate-responsive design and planning education, in addition to enquiring how planners view their knowledge and their role in facing urban climate challenges. The results are compelling. Importantly planners feel insufficiently exposed to climate knowledge, but still believe their knowledge is above average. They consider climate-responsive practices highly important, but a key barrier for implementation is also knowledge. From the suite of results, we aim to foster the discussion regarding the preparedness and expertise needed to respond to future urban climate challenges in Australia.

Vivian Luxton M海角社区
Climate Conscious Planning

In 2020, 海角社区 declared a “climate emergency”, saying communities need help to ensure their aspirations for meaningful climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies are met. The Climate Conscious Planning Systems Strategy (published June 2021) outlines the campaign to undertake key reforms to improve climate resilience through planning. Through this document 海角社区 clearly states its acceptance of the assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that human activity is changing our global climate, and that irreversible change is already locked in.

The Planning to Tackle Climate Change plan identifies ten actions for a climate conscious planning system in Queensland. This presentation will focus on the second action which is to provide strategic guidance for planners about integrating climate change mitigation and adaption into planning practice to create more resilient regions, cities, towns and communities. This presentation will unpack work undertaken by the climate conscious planning working group which is aiming to explore what best practice looks like, including examples of climate-conscious planning responses in the Queensland context, as well as what the gaps are.

There is significant complexity in the interplay between the effects of a changing climate on the weather and hazards, (e.g. heat, flooding, storms/cyclones, sea level rise, bushfires, etc) and their impacts upon the built and natural environment, people and their social and economic systems. Formulating policy responses that create resilient and liveable communities in the context of climate uncertainty, varying political landscapes, cost of living and significant housing and growth pressures, is a challenge that falls upon the shoulders of planners. Whilst this presentation can’t provide all the answers to this wicked problem, it seeks to provide some useful examples of what best practice looks like and provide some key principles and advice about how to get started.

The Federal Government recently released a First Pass National Climate Risk Assessment which highlights the most important risks facing the nation from climate change and aims to help governments, industry and communities prepare for, adapt to, and mitigate risks from a more challenging climate. Of the 11 identified key risks which will be analysed in greater detail in the second pass risk assessment, the following are particularly critical to planning:

• Risks to communities from legacy-and-future planning and decision-making that increases the vulnerability of settlements
• Risks to critical infrastructure that impact access to essential services
• Risks to supply and service chains from climate change impacts that disrupt goods, services, labour, capital and trade
• Risks to regional, remote and First Nations communities that are supported by natural environments and ecosystem services; and
• Risks to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem condition and function or landscape function and collapse including through species loss and extinction.

Queensland planners have a legislative responsibility to strive to achieve ecologically sustainable development by accounting for potential adverse impacts of climate change. It is our duty as planners to leave a sustainable and resilient legacy for current and future generations, so please join us as we explore how planners can tackle this challenge.