Urban Planning Tailor-made local solutions for resilient Cities and Communities facing climate change

Climate change presents a critical challenge to urban practices and territorial governance, especially as cities—centers of demographic and economic activity—are increasingly vulnerable to its effects. This issue is particularly pressing in rapidly urbanizing countries like Morocco, which faces significant natural and climatic risks such as floods, rising sea levels, droughts, and heatwaves. Existing urban development policies often fail to address these challenges adequately, further heightening the susceptibility of urban areas.
Globally, the latest IPCC report highlights the necessity for integrated urban planning, multi-agency collaboration, and actions across multiple scales and sectors to better adapt cities to climate change. It underscores that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, as local conditions significantly influence the feasibility and effectiveness of adaptation strategies.
Urban planning is essential for creating sustainable, resilient, and inclusive cities that can cope with the challenges of climate change, population growth, social inequality and environmental degradation. However, urban planning also faces many barriers and constraints, such as legal systems, institutional frameworks, political interests, financial resources, stakeholder participation, as well as a disconnection from regulations and policies preventing a holistic approach for a resilient city. There is now an urgent need to harness different models of urban planning and, in line with International Agenda and the Paris Agreement.
The session will showcase and discuss how different urban planning models can be thought to transform urban planning policies depending on the local context. Topics will include smart density, innovative urban forms including informal settlement, mitigation of heat island effects, efficient mobility management, solution based on natured facing flash floods and droughts, and enhancement of urban quality of life. It will also address more concretely such as the Multirisk Urban Suitability Maps in Morocco and urban planning tools.
The aim is to share experiences from urban planners across countries such as Egypt, Brazil, France, and Morocco.