Climate change adaptation in the planning of England’s coastal urban areas: priorities, barriers and future prospects

Abstract

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing society and the spatial planning system plays a crucial role in ensuring that important adaptations to the built environment are evaluated. Drawing upon a mixed-methods research approach, this paper explores the progress that has been made by the planning system in England in addressing the challenge of climate change adaptation in coastal urban areas. The results indicate that the adaptation produced through the planning system remains incremental rather than transformative. It is focused on experienced hazards, especially flooding, and there is a lack of attention being paid to wider impacts of climate change, such as rising average temperatures. Furthermore, it was found that the contemporary contribution of planning to climate change adaptation is seriously limited by the government’s emphasis on housing and economic growth and by the development industry’s emphasis on economic viability.

Keywords:

• spatial planning
• climate change
• adaptation policies
• planning policy
• development management

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Professors Mark Brayshay and Gerd Masselink for their constructive comments on a previous draft of this paper. Credit also to Jamie Quinn and Tim Absalom for the cartography.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. Daniel Young is currently a Planning Policy Officer with Portsmouth City Council, but undertook this research separately at the University of Plymouth, 2016–17 before taking on his current role in Portsmouth.