Integrated Urban Climate Action for Low-Carbon and Resilient Cities (Urban-Act) Project expert workshops on ‘Integrated Climate Resilience Planning ‘and ‘Systematization of Climate Resilience Laws and Policies were successfully held online on 7 and 16 June 2023, respectively.
The meetings were coordinated and hosted by the regional partner of Urban-Act project, Dortmund University of Technology in Germany. Five member countries and other regional partners attended the meetings. The theme of the first seminar held on 7 June 2023 was “Comprehensive Climate Resilience Planning,” aimed at exchanging definitions, plans, development background, and potential related issues, needs, and entry points for the integration of climate resilience and urban spatial planning. The theme of the second seminar, held on 16 June 2023, was “Systematization of Climate Resilience Regulations and Policies,” aimed at strengthening the understanding of laws, regulations, and policies related to climate resilience among member countries, and discussing the favorable and unfavorable factors for urban development in the context of climate change.
In the two workshops, Ms Zhang Chong, Shanghai Urban Planning and Design Research Institute, and Dr Zhou Zeyu, China National Center for Climate Change Strategy Research (SUPDRI) and International Cooperation (NCSC), provided presentations on China’s national spatial planning system, integrated urban spatial planning as a tool to address climate change, and China’s laws, regulations, policy frameworks, and related experiences in climate resilience.
In order to strengthen integrated low-carbon & climate-resilient urban development, Ms Zhang Chong explained, it is required to work on the framework of objectives, strategies, indicators based on the fundamentals of space-climate interaction, and incorporate related requirements into laws, policies, technical standards, and project management. Dr Zhou Zeyu provided China’s overarching national policy design on climate resilience and subnational practices on building high-quality livable places and economic growth poles with more climate resilience. These provided the basis for discussing possible entry points for the climate-resilient actions of Urban-Act project in Chinese cities.
The workshops provided professional support for the project implementation, promoting communication amongst country components and regional partners. The workshops, together with all implementation partners, deepened the understanding of policy frameworks, laws, and regulations on climate resilience and comprehensive urban spatial planning for all participants, and clarified the environment, opportunities, and challenges of project implementation.
