Inclusive urban planning and risk management in Vietnam and the Philippines - Linking formal and informal strategies

In Southeast Asia, urban sprawl beyond any borders has given rise to the development of multicity agglomerations or so-called urban regions. The emergence of such agglomerations not only poses great challenges for the provision of basic services and infrastructure, but also questions conventional risk and land use planning approaches.

Recently, public attention has shifted from megacities and large urban agglomerations to the high vulnerability of fast growing medium-sized cities to extreme events. However, the interrelations of resilience and inclusiveness in secondary cities and their hinterlands are currently not well understood, especially in the context of extreme weather events with uncertain spatial effects. There is a need to develop holistic planning and risk management approaches that connect informal and formal strategies while considering rural-urban dynamics.

The project followed a threefold objective: (1) to enhance the understanding of dynamics between climate change and urbanisation and associated risks in medium-sized cities, (2) to explore limiting factors for effective integrated risk and land use strategies, and (3) to evaluate suitable planning instruments and measures connecting formal and informal stakeholders to effectively reduce the risk against extreme weather events with uncertain spatial effects. The analysis was based on selected cities from two case study countries, Vietnam and the Philippines. 

The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and was used to develop a full research project. The initiation phase was used to conduct a workshop in Na Dang, Vietnam, in order to finalise the selection of case study cities and to identify project partners that would be involved in the full research project. In cooperation with the University of Stuttgart, Germany, adelphi was responsible for the scientific input as well as the preparation and moderation of the workshop in Da Nang, Vietnam.