The challenge of integration in city scale analysis: case studies in Durban and London
Year: 2012
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Integrated assessment (IA) methods allow climate change and urban sustainability to be considered over the long time-scales of infrastructure and planning-related decision making. • The process of constructing an IA stimulates researchers and stakeholders from different backgrounds to think and engage differently and more importantly to jointly consider implementing sustainability measures. • Different end-users and sectors have different needs. It is essential to have stakeholder involvement throughout the process to ensure the technical outputs align with their needs. • IAs of this type do not produce design outputs, rather they aim to provide strategic information crucial to delivering climate sensitive cities. It is Important to manage stakeholder expectations and be clear about what can and can not be delivered by IA models. • There can be institutional and individual barriers to the uptake of integrated models and their results – complex and diverse issues being considered are challenging for an individual to present and interpret. Moreover, these issues must be considered across a number of groups and departments within any organisation. • IA frameworks need to be flexible to adapt to both to changing policy requirements but also evolve as the levels of understanding of stakeholders as development and applications progresses. • IAs can be time consuming to produce. Maintaining stakeholder interest for such a long period is challenging when decision makers often require immediate results. • Understanding the relationships between different sectors and the ‘language’ used can slow progress but a shared vision and joint deliverables helps to ensure integration. • An iterative approach to the design, implementation and testing of the IA can improve its uptake, utility and flexibility. Although design of IA must consider local factors we have identified some general steps that we believe are relevant to urban IA.
Authors: Claire Walsh, D Roberts, Richard Dawson, JW Hall, A Nickson, R Hounsome
Institution: Newcastle University
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2291109190