| dc.description.abstract | Cities are hubs of social development, economical opportunity and productivity. The fifty-four per cent of world population is living in cities and they are projected to keep growing along with the demand of housing and services.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) in 2014 affirming the main cause of climate change is anthropogenic. The increasing surface temperature is carrying negative impacts such as hotter temperatures, poles melting, sea level rise, coastal submergence and erosion, frequent precipitation and flooding. In developing countries the impacts are expected to be more significant.
In 2015 the United Nation Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) released the Sustainable Development Goals to reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions in a long term, underlining the important role of cities to accomplish sustainability through mitigation and adaption actions. Sustainability in cities is integrated by the equilibrium of the social, environmental and economic sectors boosting an integral development, including adaptation to climate variability. Several cities worldwide have been encountered with this barrier to develop their adaptation action plans and analyze them is part of the learning process to identify the adequate path for sustainability.
El Salvador in spite of being a developing country and have no obligation to contribute to the climate negotiation is showing intentions in supporting the environmental targets to be resilient by 2025. However, cities in El Salvador are still attached to inefficient and unsustainable practices, moreover housing adaptation is not being considered in governmental policies. Climate change impacts demand a switch to new paradigms for urban development and El Salvador needs to establish the path to achieve sustainability and focus on the important element of dwelling.
The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador (AMSS for its acronym in Spanish) located in El Salvador, gathers important politic, administrative and economic development in the country and the present research is focused in this region.
The final contribution of the study is the proposal of a Conceptual Model of Strategies for a Sustainability Approach in the AMSS, elaborated in collaboration with policymakers, governmental sector and private institutions. The model can be considered in the elaboration of urban plans to encourage the implementation of new regulations and laws to impulse adaptation and sustainability in cities of El Salvador, from the aspect of housing. | en_US |