Cities are now home to half of the world's population. The United Nations predict world urban population to reach over 60% by 2050. Such trend is expected to intensify in the developing regions of Asia and Africa. While urban development as well as population increase in urban area are deemed as indices for development, unplanned urban expansion undermines urban growth, threatening the global pursuit of sustainable development.
Currently, the global community is contemplating Sustainable Development Goals with the termination of the Millennium Development Goals at the end of 2015. Unlike the MDGs, urban issues are set as a stand-alone target in the SDGs. Target 11 of the SDGs includes improving the urban environment, protecting urban vulnerable population, controlling air pollution, and so on. Especially, the target highlights urban response to climate change, such as greenhouse gas emission reduction and improved climate resilience in the urban areas.
Urban areas are large contributors of global climate change. However, agglomerated population in the urban areas make cities also vulnerable to climate change. According to the World Bank, cities produce approximately 2/3 of the world's GHG emission generated from energy production. Newly developing countries produce greenhouse gas emission which surpasses the developed countries. Traditionally cities often sit near rivers and oceans due to the advantage in connectivity and transportation. However, this makes cities vulnerable to climate related hazards such as sea-level rise and floods. Urban area in the developing areas are especially vulnerable to climate change due to the lack of social and economic infrastructure.
This study reviews main issues regarding urban response to climate change. Also, by reviewing the activities of major donors, the study seeks to draw implications for Korea in building urban climate change strategy.
A major challenge in urban climate change is the lack of consensus in urban definitions. Also, current indices in urban development are insufficient to fully comprehend the state of cities and their response to climate change. Discussions on the post-2015 development framework highlight tackling these limits as essential to further promote urban development goals. The global community is likely to expand discussing development goals according to national and regional circumstances when a universal global development agenda is finalized. Without a global consensus on the definition of a city, indices for monitoring the results are likely to be incomplete. Without adequate indices for development result monitoring, the purpose of setting a global development goal is subsided. Therefore, it is highly relevant for individual development agencies to thoroughly survey the status of target cities and share the result between partners. Developing a database for the status of cities can also be an appropriate measure.
UN-Habitat has been conducting surveys on the state of world cities and develops database with cooperation from other UN agencies. It is also working developing and improving a global urban index. The organization has also developed a framework for assisting cities to respond to climate change. This framework includes comprehensive reviews of the current status, seeking alternatives, implementation and results reviews. Adequate index setting as well as monitoring and evaluation of the results are indispensible elements of the framework. The World Bank has maintained urban development as one of its programs. The organization recently noted climate change mitigation and adaptation as a core issue and is currently expanding its activities regarding the issue. A distinctive feature of the World Bank program is that it support urban government competitiveness in attracting private finance. By enhancing city governments' financing capacity, the World Bank seeks to support an effective low carbon city development plan. It is noteworthy that the World Bank promotes local capacity building activities, building on its own experience on financial cooperation and understanding on large-scale financing for low carbon urban infrastructure.
With its urban division in place in the 1990s, Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) has long been the sole bilateral actor in urban development. Sida has provided systematic support on urban environment and climate change issues in the development countries. SymbioCity is a bilateral cooperation program which stems from the Swedish experience of tackling environmental issues. Sweden provides advices and suggests detailed programs for sustainability to municipalities in developing countries through this program. Korea has accumulated experience in urban development through its rapid development since the 1970s. Furthermore, Korea seeks to bolster its ODA for climate change. Increased support for urban climate change mitigation and adaptation in the developing countries are deemed as highly adequate. Low carbon urban development was included as an element in the East Asia Climate Partnership program during 2009-2012. Unfortunately, substantial improvements were invisible. Taking account of the Swedish experience, it is important to develop programs, building on the Korean experience yet applicable to an international context.