Toolbox

Block A — Contextualisation
Block B — Project Preparation
Block C — Participation Set-up
Block D — Analysis & Diagnostic
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Legal Framework Review

1 week
Toolbox Themes
  • Climate ActionIncorporate an approach to efficiently streamline the city's disaster risk preparedness, combat climate change and its impacts and integrate disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation measures into urban planning processes, strengthening the city's overall resilience to natural hazards.
  • Urban NatureStrengthening the planning, implementation and monitoring of urban nature in cities through nature-based solutions, policies and regulatory frameworks, and spatial planning tools to ensure ecological considerations are intentionally incorporated in urban development for enhanced biodiversity, ecosystem services and access to urban nature.
  • Urban Health
  • Sustainable Urban MobilityCreate a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan that builds efficient and accessible transport systems to meet people’s mobility needs and support a more connected city.
Objectives

Understand the legal planning framework at the national, sub-national and local level, the legal requirements for the plan approval, and review existing planning documents.

Results

  • Legal planning framework, institutional structure and decision-makers representatives of the urban planning system

Tools
Description

The technical team will examine the current urban legal framework and the institutional structure and the political champions and decision-makers representatives of the urban planning system. After that, they will review the existing planning documents, key actors and institutions to be involved and the minimum requirements to develop a plan to ensure alignment between the international, national, regional and local agenda. This step is crucial, as Our City Plans approach does not substitute any local planning system. Instead, it supports and integrates UN-Habitat's recommendations into the existing local framework, ensuring inclusive, strategic, and cost-effective processes.

Steps
  1. Make a scheme of the institutional and government structure of the national, regional, and local planning system (T2 Urban Legislation Assessment).
  2. Review all the existing planning instruments and documents at national, regional and local scales.
  3. Analyse the cadastre or any existing documents related to land ownership and management.
  4. Review some of the international urban planning frameworks and compile T3 Matrix of References.
  5. If possible, complete the Planning Law Assessment Framework.
  6. If possible, assess the current city Plan with the City-scale Plan Assessment Tool.
Resources
Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Action

The legal framework is an important element to consider when seeking to advance efficient disaster risk reduction and climate action, specially to align national disaster risk management and climate policy and regulatory frameworks with strategical plans and agreements such as the Nationally Determined Contributions, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Paris Agreement. For this, existing regional, national and local legal resources should be identified. Some may focus specifically on climate change (eg. climate change acts), and disaster risk reduction (eg. National Risk Strategy) while others may have a broader scope but include disaster risk reduction and/or climate elements (eg. policies related to energy and water). This step will furtherly help to determine which actions at local level might best contribute to local and national resilience goals, particularly those that are incorporated into legal documents related to disaster risk response, climate mitigation and adaptation. 

Additional resources:
Law and Climate Change Toolkit

 

Urban Health

The legal framework is key to advancing urban health by aligning national and local policies with global health agreements like the SDGs and the WHO’s Health in All Policies approach. Identifying existing regional, national, and local legal resources—ranging from laws on air quality and housing to broader policies on urban planning and transportation—helps pinpoint actions that can improve health outcomes and reduce inequalities. Integrating urban health into these frameworks ensures cities become healthier, more sustainable, and resilient for all residents. 

Additional resources:
Healthy cities. Good health is good politics (WHO) 

 

Urban Nature

Integrating nature into legal and regulatory frameworks ensures long-term sustainability and scalability, through enhanced governance, institutionalization, compliance and budgetary allocations. This requires aligning nature-based strategies with existing environmental regulations, land-use policies and climate adaptation plans. Cities can integrate Nature Based Solutions (NbS) by incorporating nature requirements into zoning and development codes, establishing financial incentives for ecosystem restoration, and integrating nature-related solutions in disaster risk reduction strategies. 
Strengthening policies that promote effective governance structures, with cross-sectoral collaboration and community participation further enhance the institutionalization of urban nature.

Additional resources:
Convention on Biological Diversity
Nature-based Solutions for NDCs Pathway Framework (UNDP, 2019)
Nature-based Solutions in Nationally Determined Contributions (IUCN, 2019) 
Guidelines for Blue carbon and NDCs (Blue Carbon Initiative, 2023)
Blue Nature-based Solutions in NDCs (GIZ, 2020)
Nature-based solutions for cities in legislation, strategies, policies and action plans at the national, regional and local levels in Ukraine (UNDP, 2021)
Nature-based solutions in European and national policy frameworks (European Commission, 2017)