Bringing Climate Change Science to the Landscape Level: Canadian Experience in Using Landscape Visualisation Within Participatory Processes for Community Planning - Landscape Ecology for Sustainable Environment and Culture - page 123

Regional climate
change modelling &
GHG inventory (if
available)
Existing climate
change/socioeconomic
scenarios and impact/
vulnerability data
Existing geomatics
data and supporting
spatial modelling

SCENARIO
DEVT.
WORKSHOP 1

SCENARIO
DEVT
WORKSHOP 2

PRE-TEST
WORKSHOP 3

INITIAL
SCENARIOS

VISIONING
(SCENARIO
EVALUATION )
WORKSHOPS
(PHASE 2)

PRELIMINARY
SCENARIO MAPS,
NARRATIVES, &
VISUALIZATIONS

REVISED VISIONING
PACKAGE (SCENARIOS,
NARRATIVES, &
VISUALIZATIONS)

Fig. 7.2 Flowchart for the local climate change visioning process (Scenario Development).
Reproduced from Sheppard ( 2008 ), ''Local Climate Change Visioning'', Plan Canada, with
permission of Canadian Institute of Planners; and from Sheppard et al. ( 2008 ), ''Can
Visualization Save the World?'' Digital design in landscape architecture 2008, 9th international
conference Anhalt

The research team initially worked with two communities in south-west BC that
represent different climate change challenges: the low-lying coastal community of
Delta facing sea-level rise, and the urban fringe on the Northshore mountains,
affected by reduced snowpack and increasing natural hazards. In Phase 1, we
prepared visioning packages which illustrate four alternative scenarios or
''worlds'' out to 2100 in each case study area; these were based on assumed local
conditions against the backdrop of global climate scenarios and regional modelling
of integrated socio-economic and land-use factors in the Georgia Basin QUEST
model (Shaw et al. 2009 ). Steps in this LCCV process (Fig. 7.2 ) included:

• Downscaling of global climate projections with regional climate change data
from Environment Canada.
• Data collection on key land-use/environmental issues and natural hazards at the
local level.
• Developing an initial set of plausible alternative climate change scenarios and
storylines in the community, through research and workshops with a local
working group to define and prioritize GHG sources, potential climate change
impacts and vulnerabilities (e.g. snowpack reductions, increased fire and slope
stability hazards), adaptation measures, and mitigation measures (e.g. biomass
production, neighbourhood retrofitting).
• Mapping impacts and appropriate locations for mitigation and adaptation
measures, using spatial analysis with GIS and remote sensing data, interpreta-
tion of available urban planning or resource management models, and hybrid
modelling to link together various models addressing, for example, climate
impacts, land uses, sea level, and energy use.
• Developing 3D models and visualization imagery/animations (in ArcScene,
Visual Nature Studio, and Photoshop) for selected neighbourhoods (Fig. 7.3 ),