| Table 7-2: Planning and design, management,
and institutional frameworks actions for human settlements, by type of settlement. |
 |
| |
Resource-Dependent
Settlements
|
Coastal, Riverine, and
Steeplands Settlements
|
Urban Settlements
|
|
| Planning and Design |
Increase economic diversification
Oasis development
Windbreaks
Develop irrigation and water supply
Rural planning
Redevelop tourism and recreation industry
Take advantage of replacement schedules for buildings and infrastructure
|
Zoning in developed countries; perhaps land-use planning in developing
countries
Better building codes to limit impact of extreme events, reduce resource
use
Soft and hard measures to reduce risk of floods:
- Reconstruction of harbor facilities and infrastructure
- Flood barriers
- Managed retreat (acquisition of properties; fiscal and financial
incentives)
- Hazard mapping
- Tsunami damage-prevention facilities
Take advantage of rapidly increasing populations for sizing infrastructure
Take advantage of replacement schedules for buildings and infrastructure
Use community design tools such as floodplain and hillside building practices,
public transportation
Improve sanitation, water supply, electric power distribution systems
Employ design practices to prevent fire damage (development densities
and/or lot sizes, setbacks, etc.) |
Site designs and building materials and technologies that moderate temperature
extremes indoors
Improve infrastructure and services, including water, sanitation, storm
and surface water drainage, and solid waste collection and disposal
For higher temperatures:
- Building and planning regulations and incentives that encourage building
measures to limit development of heat islands
Take advantage of rapidly increasing populations for sizing infrastructure |
|
| Management |
Employ countermeasures for desertification Increase environmental
education Improve landscape management Develop agricultural and fisheries
cooperatives to reduce risk Preserve and maintain environmental quality
Institute emergency preparedness and improve neighborhood response systems
|
Provide warning systems and evacuation plans; salvage; emergency services;
insurance and flood relief Better implement/enforce existing building
codes Employ special measures to promote adaptation and disaster preparedness
in sites or cities at high risk from such events Institute market-like
mechanisms and more efficient management of water supplies (e.g., fix leaks)
Institute neighborhood water wholesaling and improve delivery Institute
emergency preparedness and improve neighborhood response systems Improve
health education |
Institute neighborhood water wholesaling and improve delivery systems
Improve sanitation and waste disposal Create and enforce pollution controls
for solid, liquid, and gaseous wastes Efficiently operate public transportation
systems Institute emergency preparedness and improve neighborhood response
systems Improve health education |
|
| Institutional Frameworks |
Build institutional capacity in environmental management Create partnerships
between all responsible parties (government, private sector, NGOs, individuals)
Regularize property rights for informal settlements and other measures
to allow low-income groups to buy, rent, or build good quality housing on
safe sites Improve technology of farm machinery, herbicides, computers,
etc. |
Build institutional capacity in environmental management Create partnerships
between all responsible parties (government, private sector, NGOs, individuals)
Regularize property rights for informal settlements and other measures
to allow low-income groups to buy, rent, or build good quality housing on
safe sites |
Build institutional capacity in environmental management Create partnerships
between all responsible parties (government, private sector, NGOs, individuals)
Regularize property rights for informal settlements and other measures
to allow low-income groups to buy, rent, or build good quality housing on
safe sites |
|
Most urban authorities in developing regions have very little investment capacity
despite rapid growth in their populations and the need for infrastructure. Problems
arise from inadequate and inappropriate planning for settlements. Yet the need
for planning becomes even more pressing in light of increased social, economic,
and environmental impacts of urbanization; growing consumption levels; and renewed
concern for sustainable development since the adoption of Agenda 21 (UNCHS,
1996). Environmental management tends to be more difficult in very large cities
(WRI, 1996). Although there are commitments from developed countries in Article
4.4 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to
assist particularly vulnerable countries with adaptation, the financial resources
needed to provide services to tens of millions of people are daunting.
Increasingly, settlements are exchanging ideas concerning methods and experiences
for community design and management to improve sustainability and livability.
For example, ICLEI is an association of local governments dedicated to prevention
and solution of local, regional, and global environmental problems through local
action. More than 300 cities, towns, counties, and their associations from around
the world are members of the Council (ICLEI, 1995).
Environmentally sound land-use planning is central to achievement of healthy,
productive, and socially accountable human settlements within societies whose
draw on natural resources and ecosystems is sustainable. The challenge is not
only how to direct and contain urban growth but also how to mobilize human,
financial, and technical resources to ensure that social, economic, and environmental
needs are addressed adequately (UNCHS, 1996).
