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Feedback is ubiquitous in complex systems and critical to the process of designing public policies to solve problems such as climate adaptation. However, well‐known cognitive and institutional constraints can impact information feedback processes, limiting a system's ability to incorporate feedback into policy designs. This study analyzes the role that institutions play in regulating feedback in coupled infrastructure systems (CIS) to support the development of climate‐adaptive policies. Focusing on urban water systems, we ask:how do multilevel institutions governing information processing influence urban water systems' climate‐adaptive policy responses?Using the CIS framework, we develop a theoretical argument for policy design based on the cognitive model of active inference. Drawing on hydrological, administrative, media, interview, and institutional data, we trace two urban water systems' policy design processes over a decade. We find that successive waves of state‐level changes to water planning rules prompted more “exploratory” information processing during the study period. Moreover, an urban water utility's ownership type (public vs. investor‐owned) influenced how expected climate impacts were incorporated into policy designs. These findings provide insight into how institutional arrangements shape policy designs and suggest ways such arrangements may be altered to enable adaptive responses in the face of environmental uncertainty.
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Review of Sustainable Urban Planning and Design Policy Interventions for Heatwave Management in Urban Environments
Climate change leads to frequent extreme temperature events, making cities vulnerable to severe heatwaves. Therefore, this study aims to provide a systematic and overarching review of the urban planning and design policy interventions for heatwave management. This study used a series of key terms to search for relevant studies in three databases, including Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and Wiley, and then identified 28 articles published between 2007 and 2023 after several inclusion and exclusion criteria. After a systematic review, 15 policy interventions for heatwave management were summarized from the built environment level and building level. Cooling mechanisms and the scope of application were discussed. The results of this study provide policymakers with comprehensive guidance on sustainable urban design and planning for heatwave management.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2215421
- PAR ID:
- 10572081
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Solar Energy Society
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 979-8-3313-0908-4
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 358 to 370
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Heatwave management Sustainable urban planning and design Policy interventions Adaptation strategies Urban environment
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Washington DC, USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.52202/077496-0031
