EDITORIAL

 

From the guest editor

 

 

Hangwelani Hope Magidimisha

Indication of a climatic change is ubiquitous. Cities and communities in both South Africa and Africa are increasingly susceptible to the negative aspects of climate change, which are expected to increase in frequency and intensity, with extreme events such as floods, drought, water stress, rise in sea level, heatwaves and storms, which are highest on the list of exposure to economic and social risks in cities (World Bank, 2019). Concurrently, socio-economic and demographic developments can make cities and communities more vulnerable. These will have profound impacts on a wide range of city and community functions, infrastructure and services such as energy, transport, water, sanitation, and health, and will affect the quality of life. The National Climate Change Response (NCCR) outlines challenges in relation to inertia and risks created by existing investment in infrastructure and mechanisms of service delivery that may not be well adapted to a changing climate. In light of the aforementioned, there is an urgent need for cities and communities to invest in long-term mitigation and preventive measures, in order to improve their resilience.

In the coming decades, building resilience will be an essential urban and regional policy and a smart investment for countries. While many cities are already beginning to build resilience in response to emerging threats associated with climate change, the strategies they are adopting are often win-win results, making them healthier, more attractive places to live in and do business. Resilience is brandable and demonstrates a city's willingness to embrace innovation culture. South Africa has taken several steps toward addressing climate change; this response has mostly been led at the national level, with some larger metropolitan municipalities (metros) also playing a major role.

SACPLAN Board member

South Africa ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in August 1997 and the Kyoto Protocol in 2002. South Africa's 2000 Initial National Communication to the UNFCC catalysed efforts in CCA. In 2004, the country developed its first national climate change response strategy and the following year, it hosted a national climate change summit, integrating the work of scientists and policymakers.

In 2011, South Africa developed the seminal National Climate Change Response White Paper and is currently working on a National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) - known internationally as a National Adaptation Plan (NAP), which defines the government's vision for effective climate change response and transitioning to a climate-resilient, low-carbon economy. The White Paper views local government as critical in building climate resilience through planning development (DEA, 2011). The NAS is meant to standardize adaptation planning and help align sectoral plans (for example, the National Climate Change Health and Adaptation Plan 2014-2019 or the currently in draft Climate Change Response Strategy for Water Resources). The NAS considers urban areas in conjunction with coastal and rural settlements. No specific strategy currently exists for adaptation in urban settlements (as there is for rural areas and planned for coastal areas).

The Town and Regional Planning Journal, together with SACPLAN, is dedicating a special issue of the Journal in 2020 to explore how urban and regional planners can achieve this goal of building resilient cities and communities.

 

Van Aswegen, Retief and Drewes

argue that regional resilience can be deducted from the working of three regional policy mechanisms in the Northern Cape. They conclude that, "[t]hrough a process of decentralised concentration (utilising the policy instruments) in both regional growth centres (regional level) and growth points (subregional level), the resilience capacity of the peripheral region will be enriched".²

Hosea and Khalema contend that, while the global response to climate change has been scant and uncoordinated, especially with regard to providing adequate water resources for the most improvised, water scarcity has become an increasingly neglected phenomenon in rural areas. The long-term imbalance resulting from water demand exceeding available water resources has been identified in the literature, with the majority of rural dwellers negatively affected by water scarcity. The major challenge of water scarcity has been recognised in the literature and, based on the current review, a deeper engagement with spatial planning issues is needed to further mitigate and address the impacts of climate change on water security in rural areas. Furthermore, they posit that, although policy research that links the impacts of climate change in rural communities exists, stronger focus on the quality and quantity issues in the implementation of water security matters is critical. Thus, as rural communities deal with the impacts of climate change, implementation cycles of water security measures need to be ensured along with further integration of spatial planning issues in rural areas.

Geraghty examines practice in the UK and Ireland more generally to reflect on the success of attempts to implement the goals in England. He states that the UK's implementation of SDGs has been hindered by its governance arrangements and the perspective that they are primarily for developing countries. This has led to a lack of awareness of the existence and relevance of SDGs. An absence of regional governance coupled with years of perma-reform in planning resulting in policy turbulence has further retarded their adoption in England. Devolution has led to a divergence in planning practice across the UK. The approach outside England has been much more proactive. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an ambitious and voluntary undertaking by governments to implement sustainable development. Clear, strong leadership at all levels is key to implementing the SDGs, with government and civil society working together. Many countries have been pursuing a process of localisation, in which local and regional priorities are rooted in the implementation of the SDGs.

Mthembu and Hlophe suggest that urban and rural areas in South Africa are vulnerable to climate change implications; however, literature on climate change is often based on an urban perspective. The study highlights that the livelihoods of vulnerable communities in rural areas are also affected by climate change, by focusing on a District Municipality that is predominantly rural in character. They put forward the argument that, in order to counteract the situation facing vulnerable communities, emergent insights on climate change strategies suggest that building resilience in human and environmental systems is the ideal way of dealing with dynamic environmental conditions and future uncertainties. The findings indicate that the adopted climate change approach in the Municipalities' planning documents are technocratic and autocratic, with limited bottom-up participation. There is a need to address climate change implications in the Districts, especially since they mainly affect food security; hence, the study recommends the use of indigenous knowledge and effective climate change awareness, as well as GIS mapping of environmental systems such as dry rivers and alien invasive plants, as this has the potential to mitigate climate change implications.

Myers, Walz and Jumbe point out that Zanzibar faces a challenging landscape for fostering resilient urban communities and planning for mitigation and adaptation to climate change. The rapid pace of urbanization compounds the efforts to plan for resilient communities. The study focuses on urban and environmental planning measures from 2010 to 2020 aimed at confronting the impacts of climate change and working toward resilience, mitigation and adaptation in urban Zanzibar. The argument is that planning for climate change requires greater social will and financial investment than currently exist in Zanzibar. Dynamic individual and governmental efforts and select community engagement do not suffice to produce resilience. The study concludes with policy recommendations specific to Zanzibar and relevant across the region.

 

Kasim, Agbola and Oweniwe

allude that, although there are natural drivers of climate change, the urbanization process, contributing to increasing greenhouse gases emission, has been adjudged to be one of the major factors influencing spatial variation in the land surface temperature (LST), land surface emissivity (LSE), and climate change. The spatio-temporal trends of LST were identified to be related to the changes in Land Use Land Cover change (LULC); the built-up area had the highest LSE. The highest LST (43°C) was observed in 2018 at the core area of the city where building density was highest. The study suggests an application of cool pavements, green development and urban forest regeneration for sustainable development.

Ola examines the effects of urban planning practice on urban agriculture (UA) in Ilorin, Nigeria, and how it has contributed to improving the resilience of the city to food shock. Findings reveal that UA contributed 16.9% to meat/fish/ egg requirements in the city; 4.5% to yam/cassava/potato; 0.58% to vegetable requirements; 0.6% to fruits requirements, and 0.5% to grain requirements. RAI results indicate poor access to finance (0.93), limited land area (0.75), and lack of tenure security (0.44) as the dominant variables influencing poor contribution of UA to food security. Integrating UA into urban planning and provision of ample land for farming are recommended.

 

Van Niekerk, Pieterse and Roux

describe the steps involved in the process of developing and structuring this menu of actions, and explains how the information contained in the Green Book can be used to promote the planning of climate-resilient settlements in South Africa. The Green Book is not a book, but a novel, practical online planning tool to support the adaptation of South African settlements to the impacts of climatic changes and severe events. It provides evidence of current and future (2050) climate risks and vulnerability for every local municipality in South Africa (including at a settlement level) in the form of climate change projections, multidimensional vulnerability indicators, population growth projections, and climate hazard and impact modelling. Based on this evidence, the Green Book develops a menu of planning-related adaptation actions, and offers support in the selection of appropriate actions from this menu to be integrated into local development strategies and plans.

Brand and Drewes point out that the regional corridor networks, as a potential spatial targeting instrument, might not be the only solution in transforming the local challenges of inequality, unemployment and poverty facing South Africa; it does, however, re-orientate attention to the potential of regional centres as development nodes. By considering the 'economic potential' and 'gravitational analysis' as measurement outcomes of the regional corridor network model, they found that they could show which centres are emerging as preferred locations for creating development opportunities to enhance economic growth. Unfortunately, the data used was for a South Africa before the world economic reset experienced in 2020.³

 

Sinxadi, Awuzie and Campbell

argue that a fixation on well-established primary cities studies of the extinction of urban public open spaces has been noticed, whilst limited attention has been paid to emerging secondary cities. They further ague that enablers of urban public open space encroachment in emerging cities using Mangaung Metropolitan include low levels of sustainability literacy, low levels of citizen participation in the planning process, and planners' inability to manage extant value conflicts.

 

REFERENCES

World Bank. 2019. Global risks report. Washington, DC. [Online]. Available at: <https://weforum.org/reports/the-global-risks-report-2019>         [ Links ].

DEA (Department of Environmental Affairs). 2011. National climate change response paper. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.environment.gov.za/sites/default/flles/legislations/national_climatechange_response_whitepaper.pdf>         [ Links ]

 

 

1 Prof Hangwelani Hope Magidimisha (PhD) SARChI Chair for Inclusive Cities Head for Planning and Housing (UKZN)
2 Summary written by Prof. Das Steýn (former Editor).
3 Summary written by Prof. Das Steýn (former Editor).