Incorporating climate change mitigation and adaptation into local land use

Climate change presents a fundamental challenge to sustainable growth and development of urban centers. Urban areas not only concentrate activities that contribute to climate change but are also at increasing risk from the anticipated impacts. Human activities primarily associated with urban development patterns and consumptive lifestyles impact ecological process at multiple scales resulting in cascading effects, ultimately leading to unprecedented global climatic changes. It is imperative that contributory impacts of urban growth and development be controlled to limit the adverse impacts of climatic changes. Simultaneously, urban areas need to build resiliency and reduce vulnerability to the unavoidable impeding impacts of climate change. We contend that local land use planning is an appropriate tool for helping communities mitigate as well as adapt to climate change. Local land use planning is widely accepted as a legitimate tool for effectively managing and guiding urban development. With its ability to influence local development patterns, it is well suited to play a critical role in addressing the dual issues of climate change mitigation and adaptation at the local level. Only recently, researchers have started to focus on the need for addressing climate change issues at the local level. Even though this is a nascent field of research, there is sufficient evidence supporting the role of urban development plans in influencing climate change mitigation in the United States. In this chapter, we examine the capacity of local development plans in influencing climate change mitigation. We identify common local planning policies and actions that influence this approach. We also examine ways and means to incorporate climate change management considerations more effectively into local plan making and decision-making processes. Using energy reduction as an example, we identify ways and means how local development plans can significantly help local jurisdictions translate global mitigation and adaptation aims into local actions. The findings of this study will provide critical information for decision makers and policy makers to effectively incorporate climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives in the local development plans.