Drowning the suburb: settlement planning and climate change adaptation in a Hungarian metropolitan area

Urban planning can contribute to reducing vulnerability to the impacts of climate change (including the expected increased occurrence of extreme weather events) in metropolitan areas. However, lack of urban governance and planning focusing on the metropolitan area as a whole, and decisions that do not take into account sufficiently the occurrence of such events can substantially increase the cost of recovery from weather related disasters. This policy study connects climate change adaptation, urban planning and metropolitan governance issues in the Hungarian context, focusing on the the June 2010 floods in the town on Felsőzsolca, in the Miskolc metropolitan area. A review of key literature is provided on the impacts of climate change in cities and on governing climate action in metropolitan areas. Events leading up to and following the June 2010 Felsőzsolca flood are analysed from the perspective of urban planning. Based on evaluation criteria including effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, institutional capacity, transparency, political feasibility and time, four policy options are identified for climate action related governance and planning in metropolitan areas, in the Hungarian context. Based on the above criteria, formalized horizontal partnerships between local authorities within the metropolitan area are chosen as the most favourable and currently most feasible policy option in Hungary.

CZAKO Veronika; 

2013-02-20

Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group

JRC79055

1753-5069,   

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17535069.2012.762221,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC79055,   

10.1080/17535069.2012.762221,