Adaptation to the climate change and management of natural risks: searching for synthesis in urban planning

Abstract

Since the late 1980s, a new vocabulary associated with concerns about climate change has emerged. Nevertheless, this article argues that the concepts used to describe urban adaptation are a part of the history of urban planning. Consequently, climate change should not be seen as a new phenomenon disconnected from this past. By means of a historically contextualized conceptual discussion and a review of urban planning instruments used to address climate change in Chile, the article argues that climate change has been central to urban planning and that the emphasis on climate change is no more than a reaffirmation of this connection built on the concept of 'urban risk'. It concludes that an integrated and historically contextualized approach based on urban risk should form the basis to the response within the framework of the National Climate Change Adaptation Policy (2014) in conjunction with the National Urban Development Policy (2014).