Author: erik

Water Sensitive Urban Planning in times of Climate Change

Posted on by erik

Heavy rain and storm water events such as those in the Ahr Valley in Germany in 2021, or in Pakistan, Australia and South Africa in 2022, cause streams to swell to raging torrents, flood roads, destroy houses and bridges and lead to loss of life as well as damage worth billions. They occur suddenly and can only be predicted in the short term. According to a study supported by the World Bank, flood risk already affects 1.81 billion people, more than 20% of the global population, most of them in poor and middle income countries.

In consequence, local governments and municipal leaders, planners and service providers look for more integrated and inclusive solutions to avoid human, environmental and financial losses related to flood.

This Peer Learning Note (PLN) documents the practices and discussions shared between cities and partners during the Connective Cities Dialogue Event “The Role of Rain and Storm Water Management in Water Sensitive Urban Planning”, which took place from December 6-8, 2022 in Cologne, Germany.

For more than one night: Emergency accommodation for evacuees

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Municipalities are often well prepared to accommodate evacuees in the short term. However, if those affected cannot return to their homes for weeks or months, the authorities often have no plans in place. At a Connective Cities dialogue event held in Cologne from 20 to 22 March 2023, twenty-seven experts from Germany, Jordan, Somalia and the Philippines discussed how they can improve the medium- to long-term accommodation of evacuees.

Action for Cool Cities- Pathways for carbon reduction in buildings and improvement of outdoor thermal comfort

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As a second milestone of the learning process ‘Action for Cool Cities – Pathways for carbon reduction in buildings and improvement of outdoor thermal comfort’, Connective Cities organised the ideation and prototyping workshop that was held in Amman – Jordan on the 7th-9th March 2023. Participating municipalities engaged in peer learning and technical advisory to ideate and envision prototypes for solutions to optimise municipal practices and projects related to mainstreaming climate consideration in municipal urban planning. The following thematic fields were under focus:

1. Designing climate-responsive outdoor public spaces and promoting engagement of citizens

2. Steering Structure: Interdepartmental Communication framework/platform in municipalities

3. Optimizing existing building and urban design regulations by introducing key performance indicators and improving in-house capacity to drive change

4. The role of municipality as a regulator and implementer: budget analysis and strategies for cost recovery of climate action measures

Water sensitive urban planning – how can heavy rain and storm water be better managed?

Posted on by erik

Heavy rain and storm water events such as those in the Ahr valley in Germany in 2021 or in Pakistan, Australia or South Africa in 2022 cause streams to swell to raging torrents. They flood roads, destroy houses and bridges and important infrastructure. Yet not only do they cause damage worth billions – they also lead to loss of life. They occur suddenly, and can only be predicted at short notice. Due to climate change, these events will continue to increase in frequency and severity worldwide.

41 experts from 16 cities and eight countries accepted the joint invitation of Connective Cities with Stadtentwässerungsbetriebe Köln (StEB Köln) and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) to this dialogue event in December 2022.

Twelve practical examples from five countries formed the starting point for an intensive peer consultation on which approaches can be used to minimise the risks of heavy rain and storm water events for people and municipal infrastructure. Existing projects were enriched and new project ideas emerged.

Water-sensitive urban planning – How can heavy rain and storm water be better managed?

Posted on by erik

Heavy rain and storm water events, such as those in Germany’s Ahr Valley in 2021 or in Pakistan, Australia and South Africa in 2022, cause streams to swell into raging torrents. They flood roads, destroy houses and bridges, as well as important infrastructure. Yet not only do they cause damage worth billions – they also lead to loss of life. They occur suddenly, and can only be predicted at short notice. Due to climate change, these events will continue to increase in frequency and severity worldwide.

Connective Cities organises opportunities for local government experts in Germany and worldwide to dialogue on relevant and current topics, in order to deepen development cooperation. 41 experts from 16 cities and eight countries accepted the joint invitation of  Connective Cities, Stadtentwässerungsbetriebe Köln (StEB Köln) and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) to this dialogue event.

Twelve practical examples from five countries formed the starting point for an intensive collegial discussion on which approaches can be used to minimise the risks of heavy rain and storm water events for people and municipal infrastructure. Existing projects were enriched and new project ideas emerged. The documentation provides insights into this consultation process.

Mangrove Forest as a line of defense in Quelimane City, Mozambique

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The City of Quelimane is vulnerable to natural and anthropogenic disasters. As a response measure to events such as cyclones and the high winds, the city has adopted the increase of the mangrove forest as a defence mechanism. This has been achieved through sensitization campaigns to raise awareness on the importance of mangrove ecosystems as a unique, special and vulnerable ecosystem and to promote solutions for their sustainable management, conservation and use. The communities have also been supplied with the mangroves seedlings and trained on how to plant and nurture them. Successive years of natural coastal erosion and landscape changes for agricultural use, as well as urbanization, have reduced the extent of the mangrove forest in certain areas. This has exposed the coastal communities to the devastating negative effects of climate change, particularly sea level rise.

Quelimane population has most economic activities situated along the coast and is now experiencing, more than ever before, a major threat from the rising sea. Sea level rise, flooding, saline intrusion, land erosion and decreasing biodiversity are phenomena of which occurrences have increased due to the impacts of climate change.

In Quelimane, mangroves are growing along the riverbanks, in estuaries and further inland, as well as along the entire muddy coast. The most commonly known mangrove specie is Avicenia marina. Seeing that the loss of the mangrove negatively affects their standard of living, the community has actively been involved in the mangrove reforestation and, some neighbourhoods close to the mangrove, formed local mangrove management committees that oversee the use of the mangroves. Some committees proposed use of the mangroves for bee keeping which has been a co-benefit to the initial project. The fear of being stung by bees also keeps people away from the mangroves.

Strengthening the resilience and capacity to rebuild cities and critical municipal infrastructure in times of war

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On 31 January 2023, the digital kick-off event of the working group “Resilience in times of war” took place. Under the theme “Strengthening resilience and capacity to rebuild cities and critical municipal infrastructure in times of war”, the event enabled an exchange between a total of 62 municipal representatives from Ukraine and Germany on good practices, common challenges and possible solutions.

With special regard to municipal cooperation in the field of energy efficiency and housing, Mr. Günter Burger, personal department of the Lord Mayor of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, gave a technical input. Together with its partner city Lviv, the city of Freiburg is planning a model building for housing internally displaced persons and people who have lost their living space in the city. After an initial test phase in Lviv, the housing units should also be able to be used in a modular fashion in other cities. In the future, the materials, mainly wood, will be produced in Ukraine to create not only housing but also jobs. Construction of the up to three-storey wooden buildings is scheduled to begin in March of this year – with subsequent testing of implementation in other areas. So-called power blocks, which have already been delivered from Freiburg to Lviv in recent months, could be used for the power supply to improve energy security in general.

Ideas to emulate – Sustainable urban development planning in Germany

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Since 2019, the team from the Urban Planning Department of Greater Amman Municipality in Jordan has been taking part in an international dialogue process on sustainable urban planning, facilitated by Connective Cities. This has involved sharing ideas with other urban planners from around the world, and obtaining external expertise from the network for the planning of a new neighbourhood. In August 2022, an 11-member delegation travelled to Germany to conclude this process. The delegation collected numerous ideas on how to improve urban planning in Amman. Their itinerary included stops in Münster, Dortmund, Cologne and Frankfurt am Main.

The team from the Urban Planning Department was particularly interested in tips and lessons learned when drafting the German building code. This was because they were in the process of drafting such national regulations themselves. Their code, which is intended to give all parties involved – from landowners to the municipal planning departments – more legal certainty in urban and spatial planning. The Jordanian Parliament is expected to vote on the draft in 2023.

As early as 2021, the team, together with German experts, had analysed the relevant Jordanian and German legislation. They also discussed various recommendations, including how local government can simplify dealings with landowners.

This report documents the study tour in four stops and the insights gained from the perspective of the Jordanian delegation.

Voices from Connective Cities – Glezan Municipality

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Glezan municipality in Algeria is strategically located at the center of the country, serving as a linkage between the eastern and western part as well as the northern and southern parts. In this interview, the representative of the municipality (Mr. Ismain ben Mohammad) describes the municipality’s achievements in promoting energy efficiency and solar energy. Mr. Ismain also describes the municipal efforts in partnership with local civil society organisations to address the needs of the local communities in underdeveloped regions, that are known as ‘shadow regions’. Furthermore, he values the benefits of peer learning from Connective Cities network members, and describes the community as a large space that has accommodated everyone.

Watch video at YouTube:

https://youtu.be/5MJJ8o9agRg

Learning experiences with construction waste management in crisis areas

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During the virtual event “Learning experiences with construction waste management in crisis areas” on November 10th 2022, an intensive exchange took place between 30 experts from 12 municipalities (mainly from Ukraine and Germany). The event was a reaction to the high demand and relevance of the topic due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. To ensure basic services on the ground, municipalities have to clear away the debris caused by the shelling of infrastructure and buildings. However, this work is highly resource-intensive while those resources are not always available in areas of crisis. The aim of the event was thus to share experiences from other conflict areas about how construction waste disposal can be managed as effectively as possible and also reused for future reconstruction.