Institutional Barriers to Incorporating Climate Responsive Design in Commercial Redevelopment

For decades the literature on the winter cities and on urban design has explored the implications of poorly designed urban spaces on pedestrian mobility during various seasons. In Canada, however, practice in using climate responsive design principles tends to be the exception. Using a case study methodology, this paper explores the application of climate responsive design principles in the commercial redevelopment process in Prince George, British Columbia. Findings indicate that, despite expressed interest in winter city development, professionals and decision makers involved in the development permit process do not possess sufficient knowledge about climate responsive design to apply these principles to everyday practice. More importantly, knowledge about climate responsive design did not appear to be a major consideration in creating or evaluating commercial redevelopment projects. A range of educational, attitudinal, regulatory, structural, and political barriers impede the development of an institutional framework to support the implementation of climate responsive design.

[1]  R. Feiock,et al.  Institutional Constraints and Policy Choice: An Exploration of Local Governance , 2001 .

[2]  William N. Dunn,et al.  Probing the Boundaries of Ignorance in Policy Analysis , 1997 .

[3]  John Punter,et al.  From Design Advice to Peer Review: The Role of the Urban Design Panel in Vancouver , 2003 .

[4]  R. Clark,et al.  Local government in Canada , 1952 .

[5]  Timothy R. Oke,et al.  Towards a prescription for the greater use of climatic principles in settlement planning , 1984 .

[6]  Ingegärd Eliasson,et al.  The use of climate knowledge in urban planning , 2000 .

[7]  Silvia de Schiller,et al.  Bridging the gap between climate and design at the urban and building scale: Research and Application , 1990 .

[8]  Baruch Givoni,et al.  Climate considerations in building and urban design , 1998 .

[9]  R. Parnaby,et al.  The Return of the Architect-Planner? , 2000 .

[10]  Norman Pressman,et al.  Sustainable winter cities: Future directions for planning, policy and design , 1996 .

[11]  David J. Silverman,et al.  Doing Qualitative Research: A Practical Handbook , 1999 .

[12]  F. Bregha.  Institutional barriers to environmental information , 1992, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[13]  Silvia de Schiller,et al.  Training architects and planners to design with urban microclimates , 1996 .

[14]  Bent Flyvbjerg,et al.  Planning and Foucault: In Search of the Dark Side of Planning Theory , 2001 .

[15]  D. Kolb,et al.  Planning in the Face of Power. , 1988 .

[16]  Ali Madanipour,et al.  Design of Urban Space: An Inquiry into a Socio-Spatial Process , 1996 .

[17]  F. Buttel.  The Politics of Environmental Discourse: Ecological Modernization and the Policy Process.By Maarten A. Hajer. Oxford University Press, 1995 , 1997 .

[18]  O. Yiftachel,et al.  Planning and Social Control: Exploring the Dark Side , 1998 .

[19]  C. Agócs,et al.  Institutionalized Resistance to Organizational Change: Denial, Inaction and Repression , 1997 .

[20]  Brian C. Smith.  Urban Governance in Canada. Representation, Resources and Restructuring , 1998 .

[21]  Mark Seasons,et al.  Indicators and core area planning: applications in Canada's mid-sized cities , 2003 .

[22]  Improving street climate through urban design , 1983 .