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Green Infrastructure (GI) has gained recognition for its notable role in climate change mitigation and urban resilience. Meanwhile, there is a growing body of literature revealing the uneven distribution of GI from environmental justice perspective. Given the role of GI, the distribution should also be explored in a social vulnerability context and combining green and gray infrastructure. However, the distribution of GI, sewer pipelines, and their relationship with social vulnerability remain underexplored. This study fills this gap by assessing stormwater infrastructure in Washington, D.C., against a backdrop of historical discriminatory sewage practices. It investigates whether disparities exist in the distribution of sewer pipelines and green infrastructure among communities with differing social vulnerabilities, using a comprehensive approach that encompasses GI, underground pipelines, and social vulnerability. The analysis reveals significant insights into the relationships between stormwater infrastructure, social vulnerability, and urbanization, offering valuable implications for stormwater management planning. This research contributes to the field of environmental justice and urban planning by shedding light on the complex interplay between infrastructure allocation, community vulnerability, and the urgent need for equitable infrastructure management, especially stormwater and sewer systems, in the face of climate-related challenges. • The capacity of Washington, D.C.'s sewer system has not kept pace with the rapid urban development. • Statistically significant link between social vulnerability and stormwater infrastructure. • GI distribution in DC is misaligned with highest-need areas, worsening inequality with limited pipeline capacity. • Planning efforts need to address stormwater infrastructure disparities in DC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban forests are gaining recognition as a nature-based solution to climate change and other social-environmental issues in cities. Yet, the integration of urban forests may conflict with other climate measures such as urban densification, which may create hostile growing conditions for trees and lead to tree decline or loss. While previous studies have identified conflicts between densification and urban forests, there is a lack of research mapping the relationships among climate action, urban planning, and urban forest policies. This study involved semi-structured interviews with 14 key informants in Metro Vancouver, Canada, a rapidly-densifying region. Twenty-six trade-offs and 24 synergies were identified in five areas/sectors, such as (re)development and infrastructure. While strategic policies often highlighted synergies, policy implementation processes and outcomes often encountered trade-offs due to factors such as limited budgets and low political priority. Notably, most trade-offs and synergies were found in the same areas - (re)development and infrastructure - and shared the same contributing factors, such as political priority of urban forestry, suggesting areas of opportunity to transform trade-offs into synergies through appropriate planning and monitoring. The study also highlighted the need for further research on the interactions and impacts among municipal policies for more effective implementation and outcomes. • The study is among the first attempts to explore policy interactions on climate action, urban planning, and urban forest. • Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants with relevant expertise in cities of Metro Vancouver, Canada. • Results revealed key trade-offs and synergies among policies and practices, especially in development and infrastructure. • Connections between trade-offs and synergies suggest opportunities for compact, climate-proofed, and green cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent months, 15-min city policies have faced significant backlash across social media, in opinion pieces, and even through street demonstrations, casting doubt on the future of x-minute city policies as effective tools in the fight against climate change. The protests and backlash not only challenge the effective implementation of x-minute city policies, but also highlight our lack of understanding regarding which acceptability factors affect public reactance to this new kind of urban policy. This paper reviews the existing literature to reveal the four main factors shaping policy acceptability. It then juxtaposes these factors against the common criticisms leveled at the 15-min city model. This comparative analysis not only illuminates the limitations of applying traditional policy frameworks to the x-minute city context, but also identifies critical gaps in the existing literature. By bridging this divide, we aid policymakers in navigating the spectrum of public skepticism of the 15-min city model, from addressing and debunking conspiracy theories to engaging with scientifically-grounded critiques. Our findings offer a roadmap for transforming these innovative urban planning concepts into widely embraced solutions for climate change mitigation. • We identify key factors shaping 15-min city policy acceptability. • Analyzes the role of conspiracy theories in public resistance • Emphasizes participatory co-design to enhance fairness and acceptance • Advocates for flexible, localized 15-min city policy implementation • Calls for future research on environmental justice and gentrification concerns [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing pressure for cities to plan for and take action on climate change in equitable and just ways. Scholars, however, continue to debate what justice looks like in practice, and cities struggle to plan for and implement climate justice. This article investigates the case of San Francisco, a forerunner in climate action and a city experiencing profound inequality. Our research employs an analytical framework that assesses how and to what extent climate justice is incorporated into climate adaptation planning. This study analyzes 20 years of adaptation efforts in San Francisco and is informed by interviews with city planners and agency staff. Our research has found that San Francisco's approach to climate planning has shifted in recent years from focusing primarily on technology and science to addressing concerns of justice and the needs of residents. While San Francisco has made efforts to develop climate justice plans, further inquiry is needed to study the challenges of fully integrating climate justice into implementation. The insights gained from this case of San Francisco and our analytical framework can inform future urban climate action plans and further the debate around climate justice in cities from the Global North. • Cities, such as San Francisco (United States), are increasingly incorporating climate justice into adaptation planning. • Local government leadership, funding, and regulation lay the groundwork for climate justice in adaptation planning. • We present a framework to examine how and the extent to which climate justice is incorporated into adaptation planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate Action Planning is one of the top priorities of cities in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthening climate-resilience, as pointed out by the New Urban Agenda and the Paris Agreement. This study aims at assessing the development of climate change mitigation and adaptation planning in Italian cities. To this end, we analysed the availability of Local Climate Plans (LCPs) in 76 cities, which are included in the Eurostat Urban Audit (UA-2015) database. In a further step, we analysed the content of the urban climate change mitigation and adaptation plans available in a smaller sample of 32 Italian cities of 2007 Eurostat Urban Audit database (UA-3), looking at the single actions undertaken for addressing mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Results show the almost total absence of comprehensive and stand-alone urban climate change adaptation plans in Italy (except for two cities, Ancona and Bologna), whereas we found that in 61 out of 76 cities municipal civil protection plans are the instruments that deal with local emergencies associated to extreme weather events. On the other hand, 56 out of 76 urban climate change mitigation plans (i.e. Sustainable Energy Action Plans) are being developed in the framework of the Covenant of Mayors, which is a transnational network of local governments created by the European Union (EU) in 2012. The results obtained on the mitigation side point out that, in absence of a national law that imposes Italian cities to develop LCPs, transnational networks are an effective boost to voluntary commitment to reach EU climate and energy objectives. • The research shows a positive trend on urban climate change action in Italy. • Italian cities are more focused on mitigation than to adaptation. • Transnational networks have a crucial role in boosting climate planning in cities. • Cities need to adopt a more holistic approach in dealing with climate change. • More technical and financial resources are necessary to boost local climate actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work explores the ways in which COVID-19 has affected the discourse on public tourism planning in Copenhagen and how policies meet the challenges of the climate crisis. Inspired by the concept of 'governmobility', we explore changes in discourse on how urban tourism policies aim to ease and control access, mobility, and circulation. The implementation of the DMO Wonderful Copenhagen's 'localhood' strategy has tried to cope with issues of over-tourism by engaging locals who also have access to the attractions and experiences offered to tourists. Meanwhile, the planned growth in international tourism, despite the COVID-19 lockdowns, has not been dismantled but rather reaffirmed. This includes plans for major extensions of Copenhagen Airport. Development corporations in tourism and urban development thus try to reconcile sustainable development with economic growth, which is apparent in the 2022 'Comeback Copenhagen' and 'Planet Copenhagen' strategies. Copenhagen aims to become the most sustainable tourist destination, without taking into consideration that the main greenhouse gas emissions come from the ways tourists travel to and from the destination. • Copenhagen's strategy addressing over-tourism does not target the climate emergency. • In urban tourism development, locals must gain advantages from tourist attractions. • Copenhagen's post-pandemic strategy reaffirms pre-pandemic tourism growth strategies. • Tourism growth policies are supported by entrepreneurial development corporations. • Climate change mitigation in tourism seems impossible but remains the only realistic option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change policy is an essential driver of urban sustainability, yet minimal research has examined how they emerge and spread across cities in shared metropolitan areas. While policy diffusion or policy mobility theories could explain the aforesaid, much of the international scholarship have not utilized an amalgamation of these two complementary theoretical perspectives. As a result, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the regional dynamics and spillover effects local governments can generate for urban sustainability. This article proposes a contingent diffusion model to examine the intra-regional adoption of local climate action plans within Southern California from 2000 to 2018. We find that neighboring jurisdictions that adopt climate policy increase the likelihood of a home city's adoption. Yet, neighboring effect is contingent on the home city's existing pro-environmental policy propensity. However, in contrast to conventional wisdom, this study finds no evidence that local environmental advocacy groups play a crucial role in the diffusion of municipal climate initiatives. Altogether, the results suggest that a regional diffusion model of policy innovations is more likely successful when adaptive capacity is in place to facilitate green infrastructure. These findings provide implications for policymakers and planners who want to achieve successful spillovers of urban climate policies across local governments. • 49 cities among 190 cities within the Southern California Region adopted climate action plans (CAPs) from 2000 to 2018. • Local governments can be incubators and transmitters of climate policy innovations to others within a shared regional space. • This study builds on policy diffusion and mobility literature to examine an intra-regional diffusion of local climate policy. • A neighboring spillover effect is found to be contingent on a home city's existing pro-environmental adaptive capacity. • To tap such spillover effects, urban and regional planners must consider their cities' adaptive capacity or lack thereof. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: With 60% of the population younger than 26years, a need of about 1.5 million residential units per year for the next 5years and the necessity of mitigating its rapidly growing GHG emissions together with adapting cities to the expected drastic effects of climate change, Iran’s urban agglomerations are facing tremendous challenges now and in the future. The paper presents interim findings of the German–Iranian research initiative “Young Cities” (2005–2013) that investigates approaches for these immense challenges. The project aims at developing energy-efficient and resilient housing in a real-life pilot project, the 35ha area in Hashtgerd New Town in the Tehran province. The article explores the framing conditions and the master plan of this pilot and identifies four key planning strategies. Besides applying climate-sensitive urban form, the project stresses the need to develop culturally adapted building typologies for reduced heating and cooling, an efficient public transport in a mixed and dense urban structure and integrated water and energy systems on the neighborhood level. Simulations of these planning approaches have proven a significant reduction of energy- and resource consumption and the capacity of the design to adapt to (a potentially changing) environment. These promising strategies for energy-efficiency and resilience were transferred into a legally binding comprehensive plan commissioned in October 2010, though the major challenge in the second phase of the project (2011–2013) will be making these innovations a built reality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The transformation of single family home settlements is a central issue in the search for a more sustainable city. This residential model remains very popular among middle class households, in spite of the relevant costs and impacts related to its functioning. Local authorities are increasingly concerned with its associated impacts, even when they do not have clear planning strategies. The case study presented is about a municipality that is part of the Catania Metropolitan Area, in Italy. Built up areas cover more than 50% of the municipality’s total land and the prevailing development type is the detached single family home. The existing settlement pattern is essentially an “automobile city” for about 20.000 inhabitants with a very limited presence of services. The analyses conducted show that this settlement is unsustainable, not in terms of insufficient green areas, or permeable soils but because it lacks any urban quality. The resulting impact on the environment is considerable both in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and the contribution to urban water runoff. The paper presents the first results of a consulting activity for the local municipality that is revising its General Master Plan. This activity, conducted by the University of Catania, includes a set of analyses based on land use data and the definition of general planning criteria. The aim is develop a proposal, based on principles of sustainable urban planning, that can effect a change towards a new pattern of urban development characterised by densification, mixed use planning and reduced private car dependence by concentrating new services in pedestrian oriented areas. The challenge of the proposal presented is to define a set of specific rules that can limit the uncontrolled sprawl by contextualising these general and widely accepted principles to local conditions. The work is part of GRaBS (Green and Blue Space Adaptation for Urban Areas and Eco Towns), a project funded by the EU Interreg IV C programme). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Urban areas play a pivotal role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to adverse effects of climate change, worldwide. Climate-related assessment of urban development projects shall contribute to reduce complex climate vulnerability, especially in fast growing cities in emerging economies. Hungarian cities face significant challenges regarding changing climatic patterns, consequently climate-oriented assessment methodology to evaluate the performance of urban development interventions is needed. The main aim of the research was to elaborate on a comprehensive methodology that can define mitigation, adaptation, and awareness-raising aspects of interventions; moreover may reveal path dependencies in order to avoid negative lock-ins during urban development activities. The developed method uses a three-step scoring approach to assess both direct and indirect impacts of selected interventions while taking into account the main objectives of the Budapest Climate Change Strategy as evaluation criteria in order to strengthen local-specific characters. By applying the developed methodology, the main conclusions can be defined by paying attention to weaknesses and strengths of the selected interventions regarding mitigation, adaptation, and awareness-raising issues; thus, further recommendations were identified to improve their overall climate performance and to avoid negative lock-ins. • Analysis of urban development actions is crucial in avoiding negative lock-ins. • The developed method uses a three-step scoring approach to assess both the direct and indirect impacts of selected interventions. • Further recommendations were identified to improve their overall climate performance and to avoid negative lock-ins. • The recommendations made in the present paper may support the decision making processes during the whole life cycle of planned actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surrey, British Columbia, stands out in its efforts to go beyond the provincial mandate on climate change mitigation and incorporate adaptation into strategic planning. The community is not currently overwhelmed by climate change impacts, and has local agents and institutions in place to facilitate anticipatory climate adaptation planning. However, as seen with many other coastal communities, implementation of adaptation action is lagging in practice. Framed through the lens of resilience theory, this research investigates climate change threats and the dynamic relationship between local scale adaptation policy development, integration and implementation in practice. With Surrey as a case study, this research examines key actor narratives and strategic planning documents in order to understand how the community acts on climate change adaptation while being mandated to address mitigation. Findings suggests that while resilience building agents (e.g. senior management, elected officials) can spearhead and organize climate action, their ability to implement goals and policies in practice is largely determined by the robustness of institutions (e.g. strategic plans, policies) and systems (e.g. infrastructure, ecosystems). This case may provide decision-makers in other communities coping with similar climate threats with insight into the factors that can enable and challenge local adaptation planning processes. • Surrey, BC has shown resolve to advancing resilience to climate risk by integrating adaptation throughout policy and planning. • Agents can drive an agenda for climate adaptation, but implementation is determined by robustness of institutions and systems • Committal language around climate change action in strategic planning documents is critical for action to follow in practice. • There is value in including a variety of climate adaptation types in practice, including consideration for ecosystem health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]