"The complexities and uncertainties associated with climate change pose by far the greatest challenges that planners have ever been asked to handle" [1]. Climate-related disruptions are increasing in frequency and complexity, necessitating long-term strategies that encompass interconnected urban systems. While urban resilience theory offers principles to manage uncertainty, it predominantly focuses on individual, short-lived systems, often leading to shortsighted decision-making and neglect of long-term consequences. Additionally, much of the existing planning and resilience theory originates from the Global North and may not adequately capture the dynamics of the Global South. In this presentation, we share insights from an exploratory multi-case analysis aimed at developing a more comprehensive understanding of urban planning in the face of climate uncertainty. Our study entails a thorough examination of climate-related planning responses in two divergent case studies: the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam (representative of the Global North) and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (representative of the Global South). Drawing from 39 extensive interviews with senior researchers and planning practitioners, we shed light on highlighting the 'The good, the bad, and the ugly' aspects of integrating climate risks into urban development. Through empirical investigation, we explore how planning practitioners perceive climate risks, formulate response strategies, confront challenges, and navigate an unpredictable future. In conclusion, we propose four key propositions to advance the understanding of urban planning in the context of climate uncertainty, aiming to provide valuable insights for planners, researchers, and policymakers worldwide. We present findings published in two comprehensive journal papers [2,3] [1] Susskind, L., 2010. Responding to the risks posed by climate change: Cities have no choice but to adapt. The Town Planning Review, pp.217-235. [2] Krishnan, S., Aydin, N.Y. and Comes, T., 2023. RISE-UP: Resilience in urban planning for climate uncertainty-empirical insights and theoretical reflections from case studies in Amsterdam and Mumbai. Cities, 141, p.104464. [3] Under Review. Krishnan, S., Aydin, N. and Comes, T., 2023. TIMEWISE: Temporal Urban Dynamics for Urban Resilience-Lessons from the Global North and South.

Climate change and urbanization can lead to serious environmental, social and economic problems affecting an increasing number of people in an increasingly expanding urban environments of the 21st century. To mitigate and adapt to the climate change impacts in cities, a number of urban services must be provided to ensure the safety and well-being of urban dwellers. Among the services provided, urban hydrometeorological services (UHMS) can play an important role. Unfortunately, until now the study of urban climate, meteorological or hydrological conditions has mostly been done in silos, neglecting the necessity of applying a more holistic approach based on urban hydrometeorological analyses. These types of analyses and developed UHMS can assist decision-making in cities to address different urban environmental problems (e.g., heat, drought, flood, ventilation) for different sectors (e.g., planning and design, health, energy, water) in short and long term. Combining hydro and meteo research and providing co-designed products and services can help create climate and hydrometeorologically resilient cities. The development and provision of UHMS was analyzed for two case study cities in the Netherlands (Amsterdam and Rotterdam) based on the following: 1) What are the hydrometeorological hazards prevalent in these cities?; 2) Which services exist and which services are missing?; 3) Who are the users of the services and how they apply them in their work?; 4) What are the requirements for the services?; and 5) How to integrate different services?. By exploring these and other questions, it was possible to obtain a clearer picture of the UHMS in selected cities as well as to make recommendations for their future co-development and application.

Habitat fragmentation caused by urbanization and climate change are important drivers of biodiversity decline and ecosystem degradation (McKinney, 2002). Governmental inaction results in cascade effects, such as the extinction of species and the weakening of ecosystem services that citizens depend on. Alarming studies show the continuing loss of nature within European cities as they densify further to meet the demand for housing (Balikçi et al., 2022). The housing market is currently impacted negatively by economic factors and municipalities often respond by scaling back their sustainability ambitions. To avoid cosmetic greening of cities, the eco-social value of urban developments and their contribution to climate-change adaptation need to be made measurable. Developing nature-based urban areas offers opportunities to increase socio-ecological resilience (McPhearson et al., 2015; Spanjar et al., 2022). In the two-year Nature-Based Area Development study researchers at four Dutch universities collaborated with planning professionals in cities, regions and companies to investigate how nature-based urban development can become a forceful reality. The study applied a combination of methods such as co-research sessions with consortium partners, in-depth interviews with experts and a multiple case study analysis of best practices in the Netherlands and abroad. Malmö and Stockholm are frontrunners in applying innovative green planning instruments such as Green Area Factor to meet high environmental ambitions (Kruuse, 2011). These instruments were also analysed and compared with eco-city projects in the Netherlands to identify their effectiveness in fostering nature and ecosystem services. The analysis shows barriers in governance and spatiality between public and (semi-)private developments. Policy silos and ownership divisions often lead to standalone interventions that negatively impact social and ecological connectedness and projects’ potential for climate-change adaptation. Nature-based urban developments require a proactive effort to understand the precise ecological demands across scales and how they can be harnessed effectively in these complex planning processes. The results of the study provide key lessons and inspiration to enable authorities to implement more effective nature-based planning instruments.

Although the need for climate adaptation and mitigation interventions in the urban realm has been widely acknowledged, comparative analyses of the extent to which such interventions combine the two sides of climate action are scarce. This study examines which climate-responsive design interventions can successfully facilitate climate adaptation and mitigation goals simultaneously to achieve carbon neutral, climate-resilient, and sustainable built environments. First, we shortlist predominant climate-responsive design interventions for seven different urban fabrics in the Netherlands. Second, we develop a framework to quantify the performance of these interventions on adaptation and mitigation using a set of indicators for the building scale and street scale. We find that green infrastructure interventions are the best performers regarding climate adaptation, and that interventions using photovoltaic technology perform best on climate mitigation. Furthermore, street scale interventions combine adaptation and mitigation goals to a larger extent than building scale interventions. Finally, we summarise the most important findings of this study, its implications for policy and decision-making, and provide recommendations for future research.