The module explores the relationship between climate policy, land development and the built environment, using both quantitative and qualitative methods to assess the impact of policies on climate mitigation and adaptation. Consideration is given to the role of land and its vegetation in climate change, the energy and carbon performance of buildings and infrastructure, rationality of climate policies, treatment of complex ownership and governance chains in asset management, trajectories of decarbonisation of the global economy, international and national policies and mechanisms, the macroeconomics of mitigation and adaptation, selection of policy instruments, and the role of community design in low carbon development and reduced vulnerability to climate change risks. Specific topics and methodologies covered are:

• The role of land settlement patterns and uses in the carbon cycle and climate change
• The sustainability performance of buildings and infrastructure at landscape scale
• Rationality of public and private decisions and their framing of climate policies
• Trajectories of decarbonisation of the global economy
• International and national policies and mechanisms for climate change
• Macroeconomics of mitigation and adaptation strategies
• Selection of policy instruments for delivery of climate change mitigation and adaptation
• The role of community design – including spatial relationships - in low carbon development
• The role of natural services in reducing the vulnerability of communities to climate change risks
• Climate change and sustainable development in developing nations  

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Aims

The aims of this course are to:

• Develop an analytical background for understanding issues on climate change, the built environment, policies and land development
• Apply these theoretical ideas to a series of practical cases from developed and developing countries, ranging from individual buildings and organisations, to communities and global programmes of governance, and
• Discuss recent innovative environmental, energy and economic policy options and alternative strategies for land development and community design.

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Learning outcomes and skills acquisition

By the end of the course, students will:

• Have an inter-disciplinary understanding of the major intellectual frameworks for analysing complex environmental issues such as climate change, including economics, law/politics and scientific/ecological (theoretical knowledge)
• Be able to apply these intellectual frameworks to various topical issues facing communities, countries and policy-makers (practical application to contemporary issues)
• Be able to think critically about current policy approaches, technologies, community designs and behavioural change, and identify what the main stakeholders stand to gain, and lose, through different strategies (design and assessment of policies and programmes). 

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Assessment

The module will be assessed through an in-class examination of 2 hours. Candidates will be required to answer two questions from a choice of no fewer than four via an essay and some calculations.

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Course outline

• Week 1: Defining the relationship(s) between the built environment, governance, behaviour, land and climate processes. Principles of environmental and ecological analysis. We will explore the scientific basis of climate change; how human society and patterns of land settlement influence natural processes underlying climate change; the uncertainties in climate risks and policy effectiveness; the range of policy, strategy and action plan options. Speaker: Doug Crawford-Brown. Date: 22 January
• Week 2: The built environment and climate change. We will develop methods to quantify and otherwise characterise the carbon footprints of communities; and to characterise the carbon sequestration potential of vegetation. We will explore how to quantify the climate change risk reduction of different designs and operations of the built environment. Speaker: Doug Crawford-Brown. Date 29 January 
• Week 3: Theory and principles of climate policy. We will examine how national and global policy mechanisms, instruments and institutions for climate change policy are developed and implemented, using the example of REDD+, and how they are related to the issue of sustainable development by the recipient nations. This will include consideration of how these relate to other aims of policy, law, respect for rights, etc. Speaker: Sophie Chapman. Date 5 February
• Week 4: Climate change and sustainable development. We will explore methods for assessing the sustainability of communities and economies, and develop policies and strategies to place climate change aims inside the wider aims of sustainability in developed and developing nations. Use will be made of multi-criteria decision analysis. Speaker: Doug Crawford-Brown. Date 12 February
• Week 5: Climate change and economic vulnerability. We will examine how climate impacts (e.g. storms or heat waves) affect the performance of economies, using the example of the London economy.  We will explore where economies are most vulnerable to such impacts, and how to reduce this vulnerability through targeted public and private investment as well as mechanisms of emergency response. Speaker: Doug Crawford-Brown. Date 19 February
• Week 6: Climate policy, precaution and risk. We will develop a theoretical framework for determining risks from climate change and the effectiveness of policies, strategies and actions in reducing these risks. We will relate this framework to the precautionary principle, and examine how to harmonise the basis for climate policy with other areas of environmental policy. Speaker: Doug Crawford-Brown. Date 26 February
• Week 7: The built environment and climate change II. We will examine how climate change mitigation and adaptation are addressed in planning and the design process, where there are complex ownership and governance chains that require integration of actions by diverse stakeholders. Speaker: Barbara Havel. Date 5 March
• Week 8: Development and case study of international negotiations: The UNFCCC process. This seminar will consider the Conference of the Parties under UNFCCC. We will be exploring the issues discussed during recent COP meetings, how global climate policy is likely to emerge over the coming decade, and how mitigation and adaptation might be driven as much by community planning as international policies. Speaker: Doug Crawford-Brown. Date 12 March

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Module structure

The module runs for 8 weeks, with one 2-hour session per week. Each session is divided approximately into a 75 minute presentation by the instructors and a 20 minute seminar in which students apply the materials to a set problem. In addition, Dr Crawford-Brown will have 2 hours per week available for supervisions to clarify materials and address questions. These are on Tuesdays from 12-1 PM in his office in 21 Silver Street (entered through 19 Silver Street).

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Readings

All readings are available through the course website. They are indicated below by the week in which they apply.

Week 1

Week 2

Recommended: DEFRA, 2009, Guidance on how to Measure and Report your Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK. Download

Recommended: Yohe, G.W., R.D. Lasco, Q.K. Ahmad, N.W. Arnell, S.J. Cohen, C. Hope, A.C. Janetos and R.T. Perez, 2007, Perspectives on Climate Change and Sustainability. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth  Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Download 

Recommended: DCLG, 2009, Multi-criteria Analysis: A Manual, Department of Communities and Local Government, UK. Download

Week 5

Recommended: S. Hallegatte and V. Przyluski, 2010, The Economics of Natural Disasters: Concepts and Methods, Policy Research Working Paper 5507, World Bank. Download 

Week 6

Recommended: D. Crawford-Brown, 1999, Chapter 1 (Risk), Risk-Based Environmental Decisions: Methods and Culture, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Download 

Here are two additional readings you may find of interest and use: