Urban Development Management in Light of the Risks and Disasters Caused by Climate Change

Abstract

This chapter proffers a prognosis of Zimbabwe’s future in dealing with urban development management amid climate change. The tragic impacts and apparent enormity of risks and disasters induced by floods, drought and cyclones have caused many damages in most urban centres around the country. In effect, infrastructure and social systems as well as damage to the environment have been significant. The chapter deals with thematic content analysis, with particular reference to Zimbabwean urban hierarchy of city, municipality, and town growth points. The chapter acknowledges that the growing recognition of natural disaster risk as a development issue, calls for the need for conscious effort on development guidelines supporting greening of the environment. This chapter points to the broadening of urban planning practices and tools that effectively address mainstream disaster risk management in urban development. Undoubtedly, an integrated framework for urban development management in Zimbabwe ought to accommodate a wide range of concepts, strategies as well as models of climate change, together with the supporting policy implementation modalities.