Urban Planning as a Tool for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in the 21st Century National Development: A Review

Abstract

Considering the obvious effects of land use on climate change and variability, this paper sought to review the applicability of urban planning as a tool for climate change adaptation and mitigation in the 21st century national development. The causes of climate change were identified to include: industrialization and manufacturing of goods, farming activities and food production, consumerism / too much consumption of products, transportation and vehicular movements, oil drilling and gas flaring, power plants / generating power and powering buildings, increased waste generation and management, deforestation, oil and gas usage and overfishing, among others. the main effects of Climate Change include but are not limited to: global warming, greenhouse gas effects, flooding, acid rain typhoons, rising sea levels, rising sea temperatures resulting in depletion of marine organisms, earthquakes, wind storms, land and mud slides, desertification, tsunami, erosion, volcanic activities, hurricanes, pollution, deforestation among several others. It was also found from literature that climate change adaptation can come in the form of defense and fortification, accommodation, retreat, and clean-up; all of which can be achieved through proper urban palnning. It was also found that a well-designed urban planning policy can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to anticipated climate change impacts, although there has been limited analysis of the extent to which urban planning policy documents addresses climate change adaptation and or mitigation. There is a need to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to condense warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100, and to be well adapted to this change in line with the Paris Agreement, we must act now. Since we are still building our cities, we need to be agile to use this moment as an opportunity and

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