Planning for Climate Change

This book provides an overview of the large and interdisciplinary literature on the substance and process of urban climate change planning and design, using the most important articles from the last 15 years to engage readers in understanding problems and finding solutions to this increasingly critical issue. The Reader’s particular focus is how the impacts of climate change can be addressed in urban and suburban environments―what actions can be taken, as well as the need for and the process of climate planning. Both reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as adapting to future climate are explored. Many of the emerging best practices in this field involve improving the green infrastructure of the city and region―providing better on-site stormwater management, more urban greening to address excess heat, zoning for regional patterns of open space and public transportation corridors, and similar actions. These actions may also improve current public health and livability in cities, bringing benefits now and into the future. This Reader is innovative in bringing climate adaptation and green infrastructure together, encouraging a more hopeful perspective on the great challenge of climate change by exploring both the problems of climate change and local solutions.

Elisabeth M. Hamin is a Professor of Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA, in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on climate change adaptation and land use planning.

Yaser Abunnasr is an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning at the American University of Beirut in the Department of Landscape Design and Ecosystem Management, Beirut, Lebanon.

Robert L. Ryan is Professor and Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA, where he teaches courses on landscape planning and assessment, environment and behavior, and green infrastructure planning.