Building Urban Resilience in the Face of Climate Change in Harare

Abstract

The paper focuses on aspects of Harare’s urban environment (Harare CBD in particular) that influence the city’s climate change adaptive capacity. The paper acknowledges that climate change has escalated from simply being an environmental issue to becoming an aspect of human lives. Whilst the initial emphasis was on mitigating climate change, the trajectory has changed to adaptation. Cities are now aiming for urban resilience as the effects of climate change on urban settlements are worsening by the day. Scholarship points out that climate change is caused by both natural and anthropogenic activities. As
such, climate change adaptive capacity is linked to various issues including urban construction material and urban management institutions. The paper is informed by both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. Purposive sampling and randomised sampling were used in coming up with various samples. Interview guides, questionnaires and observation checklists were employed in data collection. Content analysis and statistical measure of central tendencies were used to analyse the data. The research established that the CBD of Harare is succumbing to the effects of climate change. The material used in the construction of pavements and buildings, the design of the city and the institutions for urban management within the city are not properly adapted to the change of climate demands. The paper recommends that a cycle lane be added within the CBD, a change of the type of material used in the construction of pavements and the conversion of Speke and First Streets into garden streets were proposed so as to encourage walking and place making in the CBD.