Exploring connections between urban planning and climate justice in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Kjipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki)

Abstract

Globally, urban populations are growing, and cities continue to be high emitters of carbon dioxide. As climate change intensifies and as cities face the impacts of climate change, urban climate planning becomes all the more important. In addition, climate change impacts are felt unequally on both global and local scales, along the lines of existing structural inequalities. Terms such as “climate justice” have emerged to address these inequalities and to emphasize that climate change has social justice implications in both its causes and impacts. While these terms have been used in activist circles for some time, it is more recently that academic and policy language has incorporated a nuanced understanding of climate change as a social issue. This paper examines urban planning in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a focus on whether Halifax plans incorporate climate justice. This is done through an analysis of the HalifACT 2050 climate plan from 2020 and the Regional Municipal Planning Strategy from 2014, as well as interviews with key informants on planning processes in Halifax. The research reveals that a consideration of climate justice is beginning to emerge within the last three to four years, but that there are still potential areas for improvement, such as specifically addressing structural inequality and setting out clear actions to address climate injustice