Documentation:Open Case Studies/Political Science/Municipal2

Climate Change Action Plan

Municipal Group 2: Alex Plan, Gabriela Cervantes, Susan Hou, Cullen McDorman, Ananya Sengupta, Bowen Wong

Municipal Group 2: Stephanie Lawless, Puneet Heer, Michael Pratt, Mazia Syed, Ryan Lai

Introduction

We believe that the municipal government is in the best position to address climate change due to the fact that they are able to understand and are informed on the problems that contribute to environmental damage on a local level. Climate change begins at the local level as each region is unique in terms of what strategy to tackle climate change is effective.

Action Plan

Transport System: In order to tackle this issue, it would be prudent to tackle the issue in a specific case, which would be Vancouver for this scenario. The proposal is that in order to convince the public to use transit over their personal cars, it would be beneficial to change the bus system to make it more efficient. This can be done by having fewer long busses rather than multiple small busses that fill up quickly. This would be helpful because this way the public will be aware of the fact that their chances of actually getting a bus is higher, which means they would get to their destination on time using public transport over using a car and driving to the destination.

On a larger scale, it would be useful for the provincial government to provide the local government with more authority with regards to control over the transit system in Vancouver. Redistribution of power in this case would help with regards to improving the infrastructure, which would eventually have a positive impact on climate change.

Another potential way to tackle this issue is by designating neighborhoods without any CO2. This would essentially mean making all the neighborhoods only for pedestrians. This would reduce traffic congestion while also promoting a more green lifestyle.

We could also eliminate the fees for those people living under the federal poverty line.

Implications

There are several areas to note with regards to the implications of this plan. They are as follows:

Political

The provincial government might want to have more voting power over the municipal government because they are also contributing to their own funds to the infrastructure. Therefore, they would likely be reluctant to redistribute the duties of the transport system.

However, if implemented, the plan would be able to contribute to the Vancouver 2020 plan where the goal is to be the "greenest" city in North America.

Economic

Expanding the transportation system in this manner is expensive and would require redistribution of funds which might not be feasible. This is either because they do not have the resources to do so or they might have to reallocate their resources to implement the plan.

(Developing municipal infrastructure would also lead to economic growth - Spend less on transport)

Social

(residents still choose to drive) (increased accessibility to transport) (ease of travel)

Obstacle: what about people who drive within these neighborhoods as part of their commute?

Solution: There can be areas outside certain neighborhoods to park (think of how an airport works). You can then take shuttle buses (for example) within the neighborhood to get where they need to go.

Remaining Challenges

(Erase this text: What are some remaining challenges to your action plan? What does it fail to address? How can you mitigate shortcomings?)