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Essay / The Role of Geographic Context in Planning way to adapt to climate change. In the planning profession, there are many perspectives when it comes to planning. Planning for current and future issues is an essential task when designing a city. It is necessary to anticipate the planning needs of cities and design the city to be safe and functional in the long term, taking into account many potential issues. This report will focus on three municipalities: Victoria, British Columbia; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Saint John, New Brunswick. Comparing these municipalities and the issues they face individually will highlight the importance of climate change issues in many regions of Canada. This report will also recognize the differences each city faces when it comes to adapting to climate change, as well as how city planners play a role in designing a climate-responsive city. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Sea Level Rise Several planning issues need to be addressed due to climate change. One of the problems cities face due to climate change is rising sea levels. Victoria is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, close to the Pacific Ocean, in Colombia -British. Due to rising sea levels, the city must prepare for flooding as weather conditions change and rising temperatures impact the climate. Sea levels are predicted to rise one meter by 2100 and two meters by 2200 (Stewart and Osler 2018). The graph shows how sea levels are expected to rise significantly in the coming years. The city must protect its citizens from rising sea levels by carefully considering their design, layout and infrastructure. Issues planners must address include updating drainage systems to accommodate rising sea levels and expected storms. Victoria has an emergency plan that incorporates structural and non-structural mitigation methods, such as floodway construction or land planning (City of Victoria, 2018). The province of British Columbia has a flood plan in which dike authorities monitor risks that may impact the community, as well as dam owners who will ensure dams do not overflow ( Denlinger, 2013). This plan also ensures residents are safe and aware of the flood risks to their properties. There are several different impacts of climate change across British Columbia, including in Victoria, where local governments are trying to reduce the effects of climate change (Ministry of Municipal Affairs, 2018). For example, some suggestions include “protecting shorelines” (Carlson, 2012, p.11) or “improving water conservation and planting drought-tolerant species” (Carlson, 2012, p. .11) for coastal towns, such as Victoria. Halifax, unlike Victoria, is located in eastern Canada, on the Atlantic Ocean, and is the provincial capital of Nova Scotia. As theclimate changes, we expect sea level rise, frequent rain, and more intense storms (“Impacts”, 2014). Many Nova Scotia residents live on the coast. As a result, rising sea levels and intense storms will damage their homes and people will be forced to evacuate. The planning problem is that the houses were built on the shore, where residents' lives may be in danger, and should ideally be relocated to a less dangerous location. With this in mind, the City of Halifax must also ensure that fresh water sources are not contaminated by salt water as sea levels rise. By planning for this, the health of the community will not be threatened by floods and storms. For example, it is estimated that sea levels in Halifax Harbor will rise at more than double the rate of previous years (McClearn, 2018). Sensitivity to climate change is extremely high in Halifax (McClearn, 2018). Flooding will reshape Halifax's coastline and destroy infrastructure near the shoreline. For example, the city should not allow homes to be built near the shore, but rather on higher land above sea level, as well as on roads. At a meeting where consultants were discussing climate change, there was discussion about building a bridge "at the mouth of the harbor that would allow ships to pass through in good weather but would have the capacity to become a barrier of defense against storms. (McClarn, 2018). What Halifax has already implemented to adapt to climate change includes moving roads to areas where they are less likely to be damaged by flooding. ("Transportation", 2014). Saint John is located on the Bay of Fundy, the Saint John River and the Kennebecasis River in New Brunswick (Trainor, 2018). In New Brunswick, there were more floods than before, breaking the provincial record (quote here). Flooding is estimated to continue to occur as storms become more frequent and intense. The planning problem in this situation is how to protect the city from flooding. There will be higher amounts of river runoff and increased coastal deterioration (“Climate Change and Adaptation Science,” 2004). there have been “sewage overflows, contaminated well fields, and ice jam flooding” in the Saint John River due to climate change (White, 2017). When sewage overflows, it contaminates the fresh water supply, which can be dangerous for the citizens of Saint John. It is the responsibility of planners to ensure that watercourses cannot come into contact with contaminated sewage and so they must resolve this problem, possibly by reallocating the location of sewage tanks. Additionally, flooding has already affected Saint John, so the city must adapt to flooding and manage where the excess water goes. Planners should ensure that homes and businesses are built in safe areas where flooding is less likely to occur, rather than near ports and beaches. Fortunately, the city recently installed underground storage tanks and retention ponds to mitigate the effects of excessive rain and flooding in Saint John. Urban planners in Halifax and Saint John must plan for sea level rise and severe storms, including upgrading infrastructure and transportation and moving buildings to areas where flooding is less likely.occur. Other steps Saint John and New Brunswick are taking to adapt to climate change include raising homes, relocating to safer areas, clearing power lines and adjusting water drainage systems. water (“Climate change and the science of [image: ]Adaptation”, 2004). All these municipalities have relatively similar problems in terms of adaptation to climate change because they border the oceans. Sea level rise in Victoria, Halifax and Saint John must be taken into account when planning for climate change, as flooding has already affected these municipalities. Rising Temperatures In addition to rising sea levels, an increase in global temperatures has had serious impacts on Canada's cities. . Due to industrialization, carbon dioxide emissions are increasing significantly and changing the Earth's climate (Rathi, 2016). This causes temperatures to rise and ice to melt, which can lead to natural disasters, such as severe storms, and increase the likelihood and severity of fires. Warming in Canada has more than doubled, given the average increase in global temperatures (“Climate Change Canada,” 2017). Rising temperatures will have devastating effects on Canada's cities, as it could cause floods, wildfires and droughts. In drought, crops cannot thrive and aquatic life cannot thrive in slow-flowing streams. British Columbia recently broke records for heat and drought (“Victoria weather station experienced driest July in almost 120 years,” 2018). Additionally, British Columbia hopes to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2040 to help combat this problem. (Meissner, 2018). To reduce emissions, the province of British Columbia is introducing a plan to encourage citizens to use less energy in residential buildings and use technologies that do not harm the environment (Meissner, 2018). In the province of New Brunswick, the government is seeking to reduce emissions. greenhouse gas emissions contributing to rising temperatures. The temperature goal by 2050 is to reduce these emissions by 75% to 85% compared to 2001 levels (Government of New Brunswick, 2017). City planners play an imperative role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions because they help decide where to locate transportation, housing, and tall buildings. Essentially, by planning for more resilient materials and fewer factories, for example, city planners can help reduce these emissions. As temperatures continue to rise, severe storms will also occur, damaging homes and businesses. Referring to Figure 4, the average temperature of Saint John will increase between 6.4ºC and 7.2ºC over the years 2011 and 2040. With an aging population, an increase in temperatures and the number of waves Heat can be particularly harmful to citizens, as they can lead to illness. Additionally, climate change has caused an overall increase of 0.5ºC in Nova Scotia's average temperature over the past century (Boon, 2017). Unexpectedly, this helped farmers grow new crops, like sweet potatoes. However, the temperature is expected to increase by 2°C to 4°C over the next eight decades, which will likely cause permanent damage to the Earth (Boon, 2017). This damage includes 11).
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