Local Climate Change Visioning
Local Climate Change Visioning: Using Future Scenarios and Visualization to Enhance Planning and Engagement
Workshop Facilitator: Dr. Stephen R.J. Sheppard, Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning, UBC
Summary:
Most cities around the world are now starting to gear up for climate change planning, to implement and mainstream adaptation and mitigation. However, difficulties include: the problem of uncertainties and unfamiliarity with both future impacts and their solutions; the need to bring the public on board in supporting new policies and embracing behaviour change; and how to build additional considerations into current planning methods when staff resources are stretched. This workshop demonstrated a participatory process for visioning local futures with climate change, for purposes of planning, community engagement, and decision-making. This process, using best available data, scenarios, and powerful visualization, has been shown through evaluation research to increase awareness and support for policy change among stakeholders and councils, leading in some cases to rapid implementation of adaptation measures. Through hands-on exercises with a local community area, drawing on compelling examples and techniques from the facilitator’s book Visualizing Climate Change, participants learned how they can structure an enhanced planning/engagement process that integrates:
- Best available data from multiple sources/disciplines
- Climate change impacts and vulnerability mapping
- Potential adaptation and mitigation scenarios
- Meaningful themes and formats for developing different visualization types for different purposes
- Input from experts and multiple stakeholders in a working group
- Credible presentation techniques for wider engagement and awareness building.
Participants also reviewed software and staffing needs/resources applicable to their own jurisdictions.
