Urban Planning for Climate Change: Comparing Climate Adaptation Plans between Taipei and Boston

Climate change issues are gradually gaining attention in the planning field, especially in urban regions due to high vulnerability caused by their dense population and complex networks. Communities depend on local policy tools to identify threats, determine goals, and implement strategies. Consequently, many cities around the world have developed climate adaptation plans to reduce climate impacts in the past decades. This study applied a plan evaluation framework to analyze and compare the plan quality of the latest climate adaptation plan in Taipei and Boston. The study examines key elements of adaptation plans to reveal strengths and weaknesses, and to compare and learn between adaptation plans internationally. Findings suggest that the framework provides comparable measures and analysis across international settings. We find that Taipei has a weak fact base and fails to address uncertainty, which importance in adaptation plans has been acknowledged only recently. We also identified shortfalls in public participation and implementation items in both cities. The study concludes by discussing results and giving recommendations to inform more effective approaches as practitioners develop or reevaluate climate adaptation plans.