Where we build homes, infrastructure, and communities plays a key role in shaping climate risk, housing affordability, and long-term resilience in British Columbia.
Where We Build Matters: Land use planning for safety, affordability, and resilience explores how land use planning decisions are made across B.C., and how they influence exposure to hazards such as flooding, wildfire, and extreme heat. The report and companion video highlight opportunities to better account for climate risk in planning processes before new exposure is created.
This research examines how land use planning operates across provincial, regional, and local levels — and how decisions are shaped by multiple, often competing pressures, including housing demand, cost of living, climate risk, and fiscal constraints.
Through a visual exploration of how communities grow, this video illustrates how land use decisions today can influence future climate risk — and how different approaches to planning can support safer, more resilient outcomes.
The report identifies several key challenges:
- complex and shared roles across levels of government;
- fragmented policy approaches and uneven implementation;
- limited access to consistent, detailed climate hazard data; and
- competing priorities that can make long-term risk reduction difficult to prioritize.
“Land use planning plays an important role in shaping how communities experience climate impacts,” says Alyssa Hill, lead author of the report. “This research helps build a clearer picture of how decisions are currently made, and where there may be opportunities to better align planning with climate risk over time.”
The report identifies three pillars to help strengthen climate-informed land use planning in B.C.: 1) accessible and decision-relevant hazard information; 2) clear and coordinated risk-informed decision-making; and 3) better alignment between financial incentives and long-term risk reduction.
Read the full release ↓
Where We Build Matters: Land use planning for safety, affordability, and resilience
Where we build matters more now than ever. Land use planning offers pathways to build more resilient communities as climate risks worsen across B.C.
PICS gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (EMCR).
