“Climate change a challenge for urban planning”:UN-HABITAT

Tuesday, 06 October 2009 13:38

“We have entered an urban millennium. Cities are rapidly increasing, going hand in hand with climate change. Sustainable urban planning is essential in meeting the needs of city dwellers in a rapidly urbanizing world”, said Inga Björk-Klevby, UN-HABITAT Deputy Director, at the celebration of World Habitat Day in Brussels.

Today, more than 50% of the world’s population is living in urban areas, and the number increases with 200,000 every day. In connection with the World Habitat Day on October 5, designated by the UN to reflect on the state of towns and cities, UN-HABITAT launched its Global Report on Human Settlements, Planning Sustainable Cities. 

The need for new approaches to urban planning characterizes the report. Traditional approaches to urban planning have largely failed to promote equitable, efficient and sustainable human settlements and to address twenty-first century challenges, including rapid urbanization, shrinking cities and ageing, climate change and related disasters, urban sprawl and unplanned peri-urbanization, as well as urbanization of poverty and informality. The report further reviews recent urban planning practices and approaches, discusses constraints and conflicts, and identifies innovative approaches that are more responsive to current challenges of urbanization. 

”In many parts of our world urban planning systems have changed very little. Indeed, they are often contributions to urban problems rather than tools for human and environmental improvement”, said Executive Director of UN-HABITAT Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka in a statement. 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also stressed the importance of taking climate change into account for the future planning: “Hundreds of millions of urban dwellers are increasingly vulnerable to rising sea levels, coastal flooding and other climate-related hazards”, he stated in his official statement, stressing that more equitable urban planning is essential in addressing these challenges. 

UN-HABITAT further stresses the importance of involving young people in urban planning. 67 projects proposed by young people was recently awarded grants from the new Opportunities Fund for Urban Youth-led Development. The winning projects were feted in Washington on the World Habitat Day.

Source: UN-HABITAT (http://www.unhabitat.org)