Key principles for adapting South African settlement patterns to climate change

The aim of the paper is to identify key principles for adapting SA settlement patterns to climate change. Section 1 reviews the range of climate-related impacts likely to affect SA settlements using climate change models and scenarios as a context for the generation of principles for South African settlement patterns. The impacts on settlements are then characterised by hazard type. Section 2 reviews literature pertaining to settlement patterns and the relationship between settlement pattern and climate change. The section also reviews contemporary global city adaptation plans and collates the principles identified in their adaptation plans. Section 3 describes the research methodology used. Section 4 prepares a set of key principles for adapting SA settlement patterns to climate change and discusses the findings. Section 5 concludes with recommendations for future research especially with regard to the use of urban morphology types as a basis for integrating climate responsiveness into city spatial development plans.