Climate change is reshaping our understanding of development pathways, bringing into stark relief how development choices impact us unequally and often in unintended or unforeseen ways as mediated through the environment or earth system. As these impacts and feedback loops become more apparent and better understood, there is growing need to reconfigure the ways we relate to nature and manage resource.

Cities, as places of high population density, where an increasingly large proportion of the world’s population reside and where consumption levels tend to be particularly high, are obvious places to start. Various forms of strategic urban planning create the potential for making cities better prepared to deal with climate change, both in terms of limiting emissions to reduce the rate and scale of changes in the climate (i.e. mitigation) and managing the risks posed by such changes to local residents, businesses, infrastructure and ecosystems (i.e. adaptation). Read More…