This article is written by Jenna Dutton, urban planner in the public sector.

As a mid-career urban planner, I like to think that I’m relatively knowledgeable on the impacts and demands of climate change — both in my current city of Calgary and on a global scale. But a workshop in Denmark showed me otherwise.

Last summer, I attended the Urban Resilience Summer School in Copenhagen, an eight-day intensive capacity building training organised by BLOXHUB, The University of Southern Denmark and Aalborg University, in partnership with a multitude of international organisations The interdisciplinary learning experience included presentations from over 30 professionals from organisations such as the City of Copenhagen, UN Habitat, UNESCO, WWF City, UNFCCC Secretariat, International Centre for Climate Change and Development, and many others.

But the most revealing part of the experience was a problem-based workshop. Working in groups, we were given the lofty exercise of designing an urban resilience plan for the city of Copenhagen, looking ahead to 2050. The assignment was based on Copenhagen’s real-life experience and challenges as a living laboratory, considering the increased risk of flooding and heatwaves.

Collaborating on climate action

Over eight days in Copenhagen, my interdisciplinary, international group members put together a resiliency plan that none of us would have come up with on our own.

This exercise held lessons in the value of working together — especially when the task is daunting, and the stakes are high. To achieve long-term, holistic urban resilience that truly addresses the climate challenge and provides benefits for various sectors, we need to step outside our own agendas and disciplines. Through working together — and only through working together — will we be able to create people-centric, implementable solutions and useable policy, aligned across disciplines.

The more contact you have with people who are different to you, the more likely you are to be supportive and understanding of the need for policies that are inclusive and integrative

My group included individuals from the Netherlands, England, Germany, India, France and Chile — a cross-section of the summer school’s participants, hailing from 20 countries and 4 continents. As contact theory suggests, the more contact you have with people who are different to you, the more likely you are to be supportive and understanding of the need for policies that are inclusive and integrative. Our team tackled the assignment with a people-centric approach, focused on dynamic systems and participatory solutions.

I returned to Canada feeling overwhelmed by the inadequacy of our current local approaches to climate change but also inspired. Reading through dozens of pages of notes from Copenhagen, I realised the importance and value of the global network that had been formed. Just like we cannot plan from behind our desks, we cannot expect to adequately address climate change while working through conventional systems and silos. We need to continue to make headway with local impact, while also taking a broader, more comprehensive systems approach. In part, this will be realised through creating and maintaining strategic partnerships between the public, private and non-profit sectors.

The sea of red tape

There is certainly a need for immediate action, even though our current situation has been brewing since the industrial era. But the scale of required intervention necessitates change in broader systems that tend to move slowly. Existing bureaucracies are a major barrier to effectively addressing climate change in ways that will result in continuous long-term transformation.

These bureaucracies tend to enable the status quo, just as there are many people who will choose to ignore the science until the climate crisis starts to noticeably impact their lives. This is not through malicious intent. As the British environmental campaigner and writer George Marshall notes in his book, Why our Brains are Wired to Ignore Climate Change, even climate change deniers are not simply choosing short-term personal consumption over the long-term collective good. Rather, they sincerely believe that there is not a problem.

The reality is that once they accept that there is a problem, bureaucracies, like individuals, become easily gripped by climate paralysis

In an ideal world, declaring climate emergencies on a global scale would trigger a simultaneous change in public perception. In parallel, professionals that deal with city-building at all scales would become aware of how their decision-making relates to carbon emissions and can ultimately foster positive long-term impacts. But the reality is that once they accept that there is a problem, bureaucracies, like individuals, become easily gripped by climate paralysis. Instead of analysing how to initiate broad systems impact, there is a tendency to panic and commence a long list of multi-year policy processes that are not necessarily aligned with each other.

The larger intent and underlying problem get lost in a sea of red tape. Each entity may think it has the answer to the crisis we are facing, but it is impossible to see the overall impact until we step outside the silos that are so entrenched into our daily and professional lives.

Achieving urban resilience

It is our responsibility as urban planners, designers, architects, engineers, community practitioners and city-building professionals to define the new normal and put the environment at the forefront of our decisions.

The potentially wonderful result of this changed approach is that, regardless of public opinion on the climate crisis, these considerations will result in better places for everyone. A climate-forward approach encourages cities where active transportation and transit are favoured over single-occupancy vehicles; where buildings are constructed to be adaptable over time with sustainable materials; where innovative, nature-based solutions are chosen over immediate cost savings; where spaces are designed in equal consideration of women, vulnerable populations, children and the elderly; and where everyone has access to safe, affordable housing in proximity to amenities and green spaces.

To channel the collaborative energy that I experienced in Copenhagen, you don’t need to travel to another continent but look outside your own inner circle and expertise to enable innovation

In North America, urban planning could be doing more towards realising these goals. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC’s August 2019 report) noted that land use is a key contributor to climate change. Therefore, sustainable land management is essential. The United Nations is pushing for cities to take on a leadership role through alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals. In order for cities to do better, planning needs to dialogue with the broader intertwined systems in which it resides.

To channel the collaborative energy that I experienced in Copenhagen, you don’t need to travel to another continent but look outside your own inner circle and expertise to enable innovation; be open to partnerships to extend your network and enable efficiencies; include a diversity of voices; harness the optimism that change is possible; and welcome the resistance that is inherent with moving towards a truly integrative approach to achieving urban resilience. — Jenna Dutton

(Picture Credit: Unsplash)