Climate-Proof Urban Transport Planning: Opportunities and Challenges in Developing Cities

Transport plays an important role in all human activities, especially in urban areas where most economic and social activities involve the movement of persons or goods. Many transport decision-makers in developing countries are already confronted with extreme weather events, such as flooding, subsidence and storms, all of which are expected to increase with climate change. In the worst case, transportation systems may be unable to recover from such events, resulting in exponential damages. In order to deal with climate change, transport systems must be designed to cater for the mobility demand of all urban populations under changing climatic conditions and to minimise transport-related greenhouse gas emissions. In many cities, decision-makers are not prepared to address these needs at the planning and design stages of urban development. As many urban areas in developing countries are still undergoing rapid development, the time to build climate-proof urban systems is now. This paper gives an overview of the expected impacts of climate change on urban passenger transport as well as possible adaptation measures. It further discusses how to integrate climate proofing into urban transport planning and policy implementation, emphasising the importance of cross-departmental cooperation. Seven steps towards developing an adaptation strategy for urban transport and how they integrate into the main steps of transport planning are presented.