Chapala Climate Action Plan: Capstone Studio

Abstract

Given evidence of the Earth’s warming trends, cities worldwide have undertaken mitigation and adaptation strategies to deal with climate change. Climate Action Plans (CAPs) are primarily used to identify relevant opportunities to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG). More recently, these plans have also proposed adaptation initiatives that acknowledge the certainty of climate change, and aim to prepare cities and their people to be more resilient. CAPs are region specific and are inextricably linked to local characteristics of the city, its infrastructure, its governance capacity, and its residents. The City of Chapala, Mexico, recognizing its particular vulnerabilities to climate change, has elected to create a Climate Action Plan for its municipal area. With assistance from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Guadalajara, a Climate Action Plan was created during the Spring 2018 semester in accordance with each schools’ studio requirement. This report consists of our work as the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Master’s School of City and Regional planning studio, and includes original findings including: a baseline GHG Inventory and forecast, emission targets, and recommended policy packages. While many Climate Action Plans focus on outlining single policies, our scenarios of packaged policies represent an opportunity to capture the interconnectedness of climate action planning efforts. Additionally, our scenario approach intends to build upon the policy efforts proposed in a municipal climate action plan for Chapala completed in 2017, many of which are difficult to feaibly implement.