To prepare for the impacts of climate change, many Asian cities aim to become climate resilient. This calls for innovative, integrative, inclusive, and transformative planning approaches. Although design is advocated as a means to develop such approaches, it remains unclear what a design-led planning approach actually entails. This paper explores the design-led planning approach of the 'Water as Leverage' (WaL) programme, and investigates how it unfolded in Semarang, Indonesia. We found that WaL was able to develop promising proposals by employing the potential of design. However, future design-led planning initiatives can benefit from more receptivity to local situations and initiatives.
Kempenaar, A; Laeni, N; van den Brink, M; Busscher, T; Ovink, H
'Water as Leverage': Design-Led Planning for Urban Climate Resilience
Planning Practice And Research