Planning for adaptation to climate change: exploring the climate science-to-practice disconnect

Abstract

Available science on climate change has increased significantly in recent years, yet its effective transfer to planning practice, particularly cities in the global South, is still limited. This paper explores the climate science-to-planning practice disconnect in the context of climate change adaptation in Southeast Asian cities generally, and Manila, Philippines specifically. We pose two simple, but important, questions: (1) what information do planning practitioners currently use to develop adaptive urban responses to climate change; and, (2) what additional knowledge and resources do planning practitioners need to effectively plan for climate change in the future? Survey and interview data collected across the Philippines suggest that planning professionals perceive access to, and sharing of, information as critical issues. Moreover, planning professionals contend that challenges with financial, technical, and staff resources, which have been perennial challenges of environmental management in Southeast Asia, persist despite significant new funding specifically earmarked for climate change adaptation. The climate science-to-practice disconnect, however, should be viewed as more than just an information/allocation deficit. Incomplete decentralization, haphazard urbanization, and the privatization of planning thwart attempts to translate climate science to planning practice in globalizing cities. As such, we argue that planning for adaptation to climate change requires more than just more and better information. It requires tackling the fundamental contradictions of planning in complex, globalizing cities.