Climate change considerations in urban planning

This presentation introduces recent studies on climate change considerations in urban planning. The aim of the studies is to promote adaptation to and mitigation of climate change in urban planning and, thereby, to reduce damages caused by floods and storms as well as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The focus in this presentation is on adaptation to climate change. The research was based on ongoing planning processes in six study locations in Finland. Plans were considered on the basis of local climate conditions and of the microclimate they will form. The bases for analyses were estimations about essential impacts of climate change in the case localities. Predictions of climate change with regards to extremes and certain average changes in the next hundred years were made for all the study localities. The predicted variables concerned temperature, wind speed, precipitation, snow cover and sea ice cover. Changes in many variables are significant and differences between localities are great. Important issues in plans at general levels are mapping of flood risk areas and avoiding location of functions in such areas. Wind conditions and increasing precipitation form challenges to detailed planning. Near shore areas, sea level rise and splash of waves, as the sea will be open longer, form special challenges. Results of the project are recommendations of practical procedures and means for taking climate change into account in urban planning and impact assessment. Control of and adaptation to climate change should be an established practice in urban planning.