Sustainable Urban Economic Development Programme
Taking Advantage of Urban Economic Planning to Ensure Municipalities are Resilient
Figure 1: The Deputy British High Commissioner Mr. Julius Court, the Kisii Governor H.E. James Ongwae, the Cabinet Secretary for Devolution and Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs)H.E. Eugene Wamalwa and SUED’s Team Leader Mr. Duncan Onyango hold up the newly launched Climate Smart UEP for Kisii Municipality. .
How the interplay between urban planning and climate change resilience is key in future proofing urban areas As countries urbanise and take advantage of its opportunities great potential exists to work closely with local governments to build resilient and sustainable urban centres for the future. To do this, programmes that work within the urban sector must endevour to support interdependency between sectors. By increasing spatial, economic, and social interconnections, market-driven growth becomes achievable. To
ensure the sustainability of these emerging economic growth hubs, economic planning needs to include climate change resilience at its core. In Kenya, previous climate change interventions have centered on helping the country and its counties to adapt to specific vulnerabilities such as flooding and droughts. As the country forges towards its 2030 vision of industrialising into a middle-income country that provides a high quality of life for its citizens, its climate response needs to move from adaptation to resilience. By having in place measures that are iterative and recognising the constant evolution of its climate risk and vulnerability, the country will ensure its economic development can withstand climatic shocks. To assist with this, the UK Government through its Sustainable Urban Economic Programme (SUED) is supporting 12 municipalities1 to improve urban economic planning, business environment reforms and develop bankable urban investments. The programme works through several steps. First, SUED works closely with the respective municipality to design and develop Urban Economic Plans (UEPs) that integrate market-based approaches into the County’s Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) and help identify viable value chain projects and supporting critical climate-resilient infrastructure that actualise the economic potential of the municipality. Second, SUED works with the municipality to ensure the plan is investor-friendly to attract investments for the identified projects. To ensure that the planning process promotes economic diversification that is climate resilient, the programme embeds an in-depth analysis of both direct impact of climate change and the climate vulnerabilities within the municipality that are caused by failures of current infrastructure and the ecosystem. By understanding these as well as seeing how policy, cultural and governance approaches are implemented, SUED is better informed on the local needs of each municipality. This is critical in determining how to best work with them to ensure they embrace climate change adaptation, implement mitigation actions, and reduce the climate risks. The diagnostic assessment in the UEP development process has been crucial in SUED’s work with the municipalities in helping to build a broad understanding of urban resilience and how it potentially informs their long-term future planning. The UEP development process has also helped the municipalities make informed decisions on land use and positioning their major infrastructure projects to ensure that they are climate resilient. The UEP development process has provided the municipalities with a road map that will enable them to: a) Integrate climate resilience into urban economic plans to ensure sustainable urban development and infrastructure development that will minimise the impact of high climate risks such as sudden storms and droughts. In Isiolo, the programme has identified the Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SuDS) as a critical infrastructure that is needed to ensure that its urban centre does not experience repeat flooding during the rainy season. b) Redefine their urban spaces by helping the municipalities determine how they will integrate green spaces in their city centres with consideration on how they interplay with the main economic activities of the urban centre. In Kitui the programme has identified the creation of a blue-green corridor that enables the municipality to take advantage of its climatic seasons to develop a recreational centre that is an ecological centre adjacent to its main river. c) Strengthen their preparedness and emergency response capacity through the analysis of past climate shocks and sudden impact events. The municipalities are now better prepared in including budgeting for future climate crisis. In Malindi, the programme has worked closely with the county and municipal leadership to incorporate in its infrastructure projects the impact of sea level rise. By including a simulation of extreme events that include the future sea level and
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Lake Region Economic Bloc- Bungoma and Kisii, North Rift Economic Bloc – Eldoret and Iten, Frontier Counties Development Council- Isiolo and Mandera, Mt. Kenya and Aberdares Region Economic Bloc- Kathwana and Kerugoya/Kutus, South Eastern Economic Bloc- Kitui and Wote, Jumuiya Ya Kaunti Za Pwani- Malindi and Lamu.
potential storm surge, the municipality can determine which properties along the ocean are at risk. d) Prioritise policies that confront spatial, social, and economic exclusion that have had indirect impacts on municipal urban areas and increase the pressure on infrastructure during major climatic events. In Kisii, the municipality continues to experience wetland degradation due to habitat destruction and deforestation. By utilising the UEP to show the county and municipal leadership the long-term effects of such actions, the programme has been able to help them identify which policies need to be implemented to mitigate against the risks these activities pose. e) Ensure the identification of resilient supply chains for agricultural and manufacturing sectors by focusing on the local inputs in place to support the system. This combined multi-stakeholder approach ensures that government authorities are cognizant of the impact that negative practices have on the climate and its resultant effect on their value chains. The incorporation of resilience planning through deploying stakeholder insights and expert technical knowledge has helped yield implementable climate smart UEPs for SUED’s municipalities. Using climate risk analysis has built the confidence of the county and municipal leadership and they now appreciate the climate impact in their municipality and what can be done to mitigate future extreme events. As SUEDsupported municipalities experience rapid urban growth and work towards mitigating their unique climate change realities, having a plan that incorporates how they can sustainably integrate urban resilience gives them the opportunity to avoid an urban-wide collapse in the face of climatic disruption. .