ABSTRACT

Heat is an increasing climate risk for cities due to climate change and the urban heat island effect. Extreme heat has inequitable impacts across social, economic, and urban environmental systems. Despite increasing awareness of heat risk, the planning and governance structures for mitigating and managing heat are less understood than those for other climate risks. We studied five large, climatically-diverse U.S. cities to better understand urban heat governance with a focus on the field of urban planning. We first conducted a plan evaluation of these cities’ comprehensive, climate action, and hazard mitigation plans (n = 14) and then interviewed urban planners, resilience professionals, hazard mitigation planners, emergency managers, and public health professionals (n = 22). We found that aspects of heat planning occur across a variety of municipal plans but only a small number of strategies were explicitly framed in terms of heat, suggesting an opportunity to better connect heat with other policy goals. Urban planners tended to play a backseat role relative to other professions, despite the field’s importance for reducing heat-related inequity. Better understanding the role of urban planning within broader governance structures can help policymakers to best engage in heat mitigation and management.

摘要

由于气候变化和城市热岛效应，炎热对城市来说是一个日益严重的气候风险。极端高温会对社会、经济和城市环境系统产生不公平的影响。尽管人们对高温风险的认识不断提高，但与其他气候风险相比，缓解和管理高温的规划和治理结构的了解较少。我们研究了五个气候多样化的美国大城市，以更好地了解城市热治理，重点关注城市规划领域。我们首先对这些城市的综合、气候行动和减灾计划进行了计划评估（n  = 14），然后采访了城市规划者、复原力专业人员、减灾规划者、应急管理人员和公共卫生专业人员（n = 14）。 = 22）。我们发现，供热规划的各个方面都存在于各种市政规划中，但只有少数策略是在供热方面明确制定的，这表明有机会更好地将供热与其他政策目标联系起来。相对于其他职业，城市规划师往往处于次要地位，尽管该领域对于减少与炎热相关的不平等非常重要。更好地了解城市规划在更广泛的治理结构中的作用可以帮助政策制定者更好地参与热量缓解和管理。