Cities, Water and Climate Change (MAN-MPL036) all lectures summarized

Summary lectures Cities, Water and Climate Change
Contents
Lecture 1: Cities, water and climate change: an introduction................................................................2
Lecture 2: Governance of the energy transition..................................................................................10
Lecture 3: Normative aspects of climate change mitigation and adaptation.......................................16
Lecture 4: Market-driven governance: The role of the insurance industry in adaptation governance 23
Lecture 5: Urban climate adaptation...................................................................................................29
Lecture 6: Circular area development..................................................................................................34
Lecture 7: Voluntary programs: the case of renewable energy...........................................................40
Lecture 8: Collaborative governance, leadership.................................................................................45




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,Lecture 1: Cities, water and climate change: an
introduction
Flood events have to be increased in frequency because of climate change.
Seepage and piping, due to the pressure of the water, the water goes underneath the dike to the
land. This destabilize the dike. The water is not yet overtopping, this is already a very risky situation.

Hurricanes in Houston some observations.
 Relationship to cc: sea level rise
 Climate adaptation: urban design and planning matter: e.g. water storage capacity
 Evacuation is a major issue
 Compare to Dutch Delta: first and foremost: a different 'harzardscape', the Dutch do not suffer
from hurricanes
 But also, a different philosophy: do you spend your money to prevent flooding or to
compensate losses/ rebuilding cities.

Important to learn from other countries, in both directions. Dutch and Americans are cooperating in
flood risk management. Otherwise you need to be aware of key differences of the areas. Coast of
the US and the coast of the Netherlands.
It’s not just differences in events also in how the countries are organized, you see important
differences between countries, it’s a big black and white, it’s that NL spend a lot of money on to
prevent flooding (kind of philosophy). In the NL they have a flood insurance system, also as a means
to protect in losses and to compensate.

Climate change:
 Global phenomenon, but regional differences  experience it on different parts of our globe
 Regional differences in degree of cc and in its impacts  how much the climate is changing
depends and has impacts on different areas.
 Broad scientific consensus that climate is changing
 Broad scientific consensus that it is due to human activities
 But… there are still climate sceptics
 Uncertainties about speed of cc, degree of change, tipping points and so on.
 High agenda status on all governmental levels.

Climate change and water
 Most impacts are water related  not all, we also do have health issues, consequences
biodiversity, migration of species, many of them are water related
 Sea level rise
 Siltation, salt intrusion because of sea level rise
 Variability of river discharges  high water, flooding 1995. now and then we also have low
water in the system
 Drought and water scarcity

Don’t make the mistake to say that water scarcity is not a problem in the Netherlands. However, this
is certainly true that we have in NL still periods were we do have water scarcity. Due to the low
discharge boats have problems with navigation. We use the water for cooling purposes, the water
cannot be used for cooling (while cooling loose the hot water in the river again)

Climate change and cities
 Two-sided relationship


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, o Cities contributed the most to cc  population density is high, mobility high, industry
high etc.
o Cities are most vulnerable to cc
 Because of the amount of knowledge available  Cities offer opportunities for both mitigation
and adaptation.

Different challenges in developed and developing world:
 Developed world (high income countries):
o Only 2% of new buildings are added to existing cities per year. Building stock is changing
(real estate) is very low, it is developing slowly. That’s a problem, if you want to apply
new insights. Climate neutral buildings, we can do it the easiest in new buildings. But
that’s only 2%.
o New stricter energy regulations usually apply to new buildings
 Developing world (low income countries):
o Rapid urbanization, building boom difficult to regulate, illegal settlements (cities growing
rapidly, new buildings offer lots of opportunities in new ways, but they face other
problems:
o Lack of financial resources
o Lack of institutional capacity

However, exceptions: in Asia they build sometimes just a whole new city like Amarvati

Climate adaptation: heat stress. Urban heat island effect. Temperatures do not go down because of
the buildings, this affects people, especially the elderly. Global studies: heat stress is a more issue
then flooding. Amounts of potential deaths is higher than by flood events. Urban greening is the
magic formula to reduce the temperature.

Climate change, cities and water:
Over two thirds of the world's largest cities are delta cities:
 Copenhagen
 HCMC
 Hong kong
 Jarkarta
 London
 Melbourne
 New york city
 New orleans
 Rotterdam
 Singapore
 Tokyo
 Venice
They have basically fertile grounds good for agriculture, that’s why mostly these delta cities develop
in a good way.

Strategies of flood risk management? What can I do about this?
 Multi layered water safety
o First layer  keeping the water out, infrastructure buildings like dikes etc. just keep the
water out
o Second layer  adaptation, elevate specific areas. even though this area is flooded, I
still want to use this infrastructure,
o Third layer  evacuation


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