Introducing the Green Book: A practical planning tool for adapting South African settlements to climate change

The Green Book is not a book, but a novel, practical online planning tool to support the adaptation of South African settlements to the impacts of climatic changes and severe events. It provides evidence of current and future (2050) climate risks and vulnerability for every local municipality in South Africa (including settlements) in the form of climate-change projections, multidimensional vulnerability indicators, population-growth projections, and climate hazard and impact modelling. Based on this evidence, the Green Book developed a menu of planning-related adaptation actions and offers support in the selection of appropriate actions from this menu to be integrated into local development strategies and plans. The second half of this article describes the steps involved in the process of developing and structuring this menu of actions and explains how the information contained in the Green Book can be used to promote the planning of climate-resilient settlements in South Africa

From the guest editors

Spatial change phenomena in SA – explorations and innovations We would like to dedicate this special edition to our beloved colleague and friend, Maria Joe Coetzee who passed away on 2 November 2014. The work depicted in this special edition is testimony of her visionary leadership, insightful contributions and dedication to planning practice, policy development and research and development in the fields of integrated development planning and intergovernmental collaboration. Maria’s ability to conceptualise, rationalise and then to realise new ideas and challenges was evident in the passionate way she supported innovations in planning systems, tools, technologies and policies. Her desire for making a difference in the planning field and her belief in the potential of people to achieve this was and is evident in the importance given to collaborative practices, capacity building, and knowledge transfers – providing a platform and opportunity to strengthen planning in South Africa

CSIR launches novel online climate risk profiling and adaptation tool : The Green Book

The Council for Science and Industrial Research (CSIR) Green Book contributes to sustainable and liveable South African settlements through climate change adaptation. This article announces CSIR’s newly launched online climate risk and profiling tool towards region-specific adaptation measures for climate resilient settlements. The role of adaptation planning is vital in reducing the exposure of municipalities, settlements, neighbourhoods and infrastructure to devastating impacts of climate-induced hazards. Complementary to the Green Book is The Neighbourhood Planning and Design Guide (the Red Book), which is aimed at built environment practitioners, providing practical information related to the planning and design of services and infrastructure in neighbourhood development projects

Spatial policy, planning and infrastructure investment: Lessons from urban simulations in three South African cities

This article is based on the assumption that more spatially efficient investment choices in both economic and basic infrastructure spending can make a significant impact on the equity, efficiency and sustainability of human settlements. Emerging from work conducted as part of a Department of Science and Technology (DST)- funded Integrated Planning and Development Modelling (IPDM) project, the article argues that decisions about infrastructure investment in South African metropolitan areas ought to be grounded in robust and rigorous analysis and scenario evaluation. More evidence, and better evidence, an understanding of spatial trends and the underlying forces that shape them, are needed to support planning and infrastructure investment. Urban simulation platforms offer valuable tools in this regard. Findings of simulation work in three metropolitan areas (eThekwini, Nelson Mandela Bay and Johannesburg) are presented to demonstrate this, and some implications for spatial policy, planning and infrastructure investment are highlighted.&nbsp

Translating disaster resilience into spatial planning practice in South Africa: Challenges and champions

It is highly likely that hazards and extreme climatic events will occur more frequently in the future and will become more severe – increasing the vulnerability and risk of millions of poor urbanites in developing countries. Disaster resilience aims to reduce disaster losses by equipping cities to withstand, absorb, adapt to or recover from external shocks. This paper questions whether disaster resilience is likely to be taken up in spatial planning practices in South Africa, given its immediate developmental priorities and challenges. In South Africa, issues of development take precedence over issues of sustainability, environmental management and disaster reduction. This is illustrated by the priority given to ‘servicing’ settlements compared to the opportunities offered by ‘transforming’ spaces through post-apartheid spatial planning. The City of Durban’s quest in adapting to climate change demonstrates hypothetically that if disaster resilience were to be presented as an issue distinct from what urban planners are already doing, then planners would see it as insignificant as compared to addressing the many developmental backlogs and challenges. If, however, it is regarded as a means to secure a city’s development path whilst simultaneously addressing sustainability, then disaster resilience is more likely to be translated into spatial planning practices in South Africa

Analysing risk and vulnerability of South African settlements: attempts, explorations and reflections

With the world’s urban population now estimated to be at 52% (United Nations 2012:1), towns and cities are increasingly becoming the stage where disaster risk has to be managed and mitigated. Understanding the risks and vulnerabilities in these complex socio-ecological systems thus becomes of utmost importance to be able to intervene in the underlying root causes, dynamic pressures and unsafe conditions. In this paper, the authors share their experience in, and reflect on, recent attempts at exploring integrated and place-specific risk and vulnerability analyses of settlements in South Africa. An overview is first provided of the attempt to develop multi-criteria indicators for integrated assessment of socio-economic vulnerability at a regional level. Secondly, an indication is provided of some first steps in interpreting projections for environmental risks and hazards in terms of possible implications for settlements at this regional level. The paper concludes with some reflections on the challenges and breakthroughs experienced in this exercise, as well as implications for on-going and future research.https://doi.org/10.4102/jamba.v5i2.8

CSIR launches novel online climate risk profiling and adaptation tool: The Green Book

The Council for Science and Industrial Research (CSIR) Green Book contributes to sustainable and liveable South African settlements through climate change adaptation. This article announces CSIR’s newly launched online climate risk and profiling tool towards region-specific adaptation measures for climate resilient settlements. The role of adaptation planning is vital in reducing the exposure of municipalities, settlements, neighbourhoods and infrastructure to devastating impacts of climate-induced hazards. Complementary to the Green Book is The Neighbourhood Planning and Design Guide (the Red Book), which is aimed at built environment practitioners, providing practical information related to the planning and design of services and infrastructure in neighbourhood development projects

Climate change adaptation mainstreaming in the planning instruments of two South African local municipalities

This article reflects on the role of urban planning in climate change adaptation and the role of planning instruments in facilitating the mainstreaming of climate change adaptation. An analytical framework is introduced to analyse primary spatial and integrated planning instruments in the City of Cape Town and Thulamela Local Municipality in South Africa, as comparative cases with core similarities and contextual differences. The findings are discussed in terms of where adaptation should be included throughout the planning process and the extent to which the cases have been able to mainstream climate change adaptation within their planning instruments. The findings show that local municipal plans and policies are recognising the impact of climate change on settlements and the role of planning in responding to these impacts. However, there is little evidence of addressing these long-term impacts through programmatic and coherent approaches using short- to medium-term planning instruments.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cdsa202021-11-13hj2020Town and Regional Plannin

What to adapt for? : climate change risk profiles for South African cities

This poster/one-page bulletin is produced by the Council for Scientific and Industrial research (CSIR) and summarizes the project objectives to address barriers experienced by local governments in South Africa in creating climate change adaptation strategies for their municipalities. The “Green Book” project compiled climate risk profiles and conceptualized adaptation options for every settlement in South Africa. This poster also features scientific evidence that underpins local adaptation

Green Book : adapting South African settlements to climate change

Co-funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Green Book is the result of a three-year initiative in which the CSIR collaborated with the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) and a number of stakeholders and reviewers in co-producing the methods and reviewing the research findings.CSIR Long-term Thematic Programm