Urban Climate Resilience: Planning for an Uncertain Future

Climate change will profoundly shape our cities. Cities will be transformed by the effects of climate change or the interventions taken to reduce those impacts. As planners, policy-makers, and urbanists, we hold the profound responsibility of helping shape how that change occurs. The future of our cities will be the consequence of our action or inaction. With that weight on our collective shoulders, this class will examine the how and why of climate adaptation planning for a more resilient future. 

 

Through presentations, research, and discussions, the course will focus on building the foundation of the topics of climate resilience and climate adaptation planning, including understanding climate change projections, event probabilities, exposure analysis, hazard consequence evaluations, and adaptive capacity analysis. The course will emphasize the importance of turning this technical work into action, with a focus on how to convince skeptical or reluctant audiences.