ACDI ADAPTATION SEMINAR SERIES

 

Join us for a lunch-time, weekly seminar series where we will hear from and engage with various academics and practitioners working in the climate change adaptation space.

Where: Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Studio 5, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town.

When: Wednesday, 5 March 2014 from 13h00-14h00.

Spatial planning mechanisms towards coastal risk management: strategies, experiences and challenges in the City of Cape Town  

Darryl Colenbrander (City of Cape Town)

From an ad hoc sector based management approach in the 1970s (Sowman, 1993) Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) in South Africa has gradually evolved to a more systems-orientated, integrated and people-centred approach (Glavovic, 2006). This has been stimulated by the transition to democracy and a focus on sustainability, redress and equity and good governance. The Integrated Coastal Management Act (Act 24 of 2008) mandates the three tiers of government with certain responsibilities and attempts to embed ICM principles into the governance of South Africa’s coastal environment. Over the past 15 years, with growing awareness of the potential impacts and implications of climate change and environmental variability, ICM in South Africa is being increasingly framed within a discourse of coastal risk governance. Within the context of emerging pressures associated with climate change, sea-level rise and increased storminess, risk aversion is becoming a key constituent of spatial planning and urban design in coastal municipalities. Framed against a people-centred pro-poor imperative of ICM in South Africa, a distinctive dichotomy is arising within coastal planning discussions at the city scale: how to maximise the socio-economic potential of the coast through economic development strategies that will benefit the poor whilst simultaneously remaining risk averse to coastal hazards through ecosystems based adaptation? This paper presents the City’s spatial planning mechanisms (specifically set-backs and overlay zones) that are wedged between these two, and often competing, interests, and which are being applied to achieve this balance. The discussion will provide an overview of the strategies the City is developing and will reflect on the City’s experiences and challenges to date in developing these mechanisms as key adaptation interventions.

Darryl is currently employed as coastal coordinator for the City of Cape Town and is responsible for driving ICM across the City’s various line functions. His current focus lies in the development of coastal policy and adaptation strategies for the City. Before joining the City Darryl worked for the Oceanographic Research Institute in KwaZulu-Natal as a researcher. He is currently undertaking his PhD through the University of Amsterdam, programme Group Governance and Inclusive Development.

 

 

 

*Bring your lunch along, refreshments will be provided