Earth currently transitions from a mostly rural to a mostly urban planet; from 2000 until 2030 the urbanized areas will nearly triple (Seto et al. 2012). The use of dark building materials, such as asphalt and concrete, leads to a lower albedo in urbanized areas than in natural environment (Rosenzweig et al. 2011), fostering local and global warming. In turn, the increase in urban albedo might support climate stabilization efforts (REF). Here we investigate the potential effect of the increase in albedo in a representative set of European cities relying on three metrics: a) instantaneous radiative forcing; b) urban cooling; c) reduction in mortality. We find a distinct but surprising geographical variation of the radiative forcing potential. Central European cities can as effectively change radiative forcing as Southern European cities, reflecting their sometimes relatively larger urban area. However, the more local metrics of urban cooling and especially the resulting health impact display the highest benefits of albedo modifications in Southern European cities, emphasizing the need for a geographically stratified albedo policies to maximize benefits.
Mitigating and adapting to climate change is one of the grand challenges of our times (GEA 2012). As on international level progress in addressing climate change remains stuck in complicated negotiations (Edenhofer et al. 2013), cities might be the appropriate spatial scale to address multi-faceted challenges such as climate change (Barber, 2013). Albeit cities’ decision makers reluctantly react to top-down imposed mitigation and adaptation plans (Reckien et al. 2014), they successfully implement local measures pursuing co-benefits and cost-savings deriving by climate change mitig...
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...al cycles, 15 (4), 891 – 907 (2001)
30. Santamouris, M., Cooling the cities – A review of reflective and green roof mitigation technologies to fight heat island and improve comfort in urban environments. Solar Energy, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2012.07.003 (2012)
31. Jacobson, M. Z., Ten Hoeve, J., E., Effects of urban surfaces and white roofs on global and regional climate, Journal of Climate, 25, 1028 – 1044 (2012)
32. Georgescu, M., Marefield, P.E., Bierwagen, B.G., Weaver, C.P., Urban adaptation can roll back warming of emerging megapolitan regions, PNAS (2014)
33. Baccini, M., Biggeri, A., Accetta, G., Kosatsky, T., Katsouyanni, K., Analitis, A., Anderson, H., R., Bisanti, L., D´Ippoliti, D., Danova, J., Forsberg, B., Medina, S., Paldy, A., Rabczenko, D., Schindler, C., Michelozzi, P., Heat effects on mortality in 15 European cites, Epidemiology (2008)
Finally in 1991, the federal government initiated a ‘Better Cities Program’ which aimed to make Australian cities sustainable and more liveable. It encoura...
Hoffman, M. (2013) “Global Climate Change” in The Handbook of Global Climate and Environmental Policy
Cambridge and New York City. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Web. The Web. The Web.
The urban heat island (UHI) is a metropolitan area with a relatively higher temperature compared to other surrounding rural areas. This relatively flat megacity houses more than ten million people with half of the population residing in the Seoul National Capital Area. The density of the city remains high with 17,288 people per square mile. With the climate on the border line of humid subtropical and humid continental, the metropolitan infrastructure and human activities causes the city to be more susceptible to climate change as well as the UHI effect. The city pertains specific interest as it is my home city, and I believe that this topic is worthy of investigation as South Korea’s rate of urbanization ranks 6th amongst Asian nations and due to such rapid urbanization, environmental problems emerged. As Seoul is an inland city, the intensity of UHI is large, and the biodiversity and population both face detrimental threats and disruptions due to the increase in temperature and formation of heat waves. Research discovered that annual maximum UHI intensity is strongest in Seoul is 3.34’C. In this research, the Urban Heat Island effect in Seoul, South Korea will be assessed at three distinct locations within the city; Chung Gye Chun, an artificial river, already known to have increased quality of air and lowered the temperature of nearby areas, Hannam Village The Hill, a residential location with abundance of roadside trees, bushes, artificial waterfall and grass with 3 to 6 story buildings surround the area, and Myeong Dong, one of the most crowded areas in Seoul, with buildings, high level of human concentration. By using both raw data and published resources of this field, this essay will evaluate the correlation between inf...
The philosophical orientation underpinning this proposal study is pragmatic paradigms. Given the apparent impacts of climate change, a cost benefit analysis monetizes input variables so that planners can systematically rank available alternative interventions. This model is scalable and can contextualize the unique needs and available resources of each city to generate relevant results. A cost benefit analysis can be adapted to deal with uncertainty, which is crucial as the causes and impacts of climate change are still being studied. For over one hundred years, this assessment model has been used by all levels of governments around the world to allocate public resources, demonstrating the usefulness of this pragmatic tool in action-based decision making.
There is no longer any question that our world climate has changed (King, 2004). Over the last 100 years, "temperatures have risen by about 0.6 degrees Celsius and global sea level has risen by about 20cm" (K...
Furthermore, this analysis must take place amidst serious gaps in the existing research and technology concerning the developing climatic conditions. For these reasons, global warming stands as one of the most daunting policy issues facing our world today. This is compounded by the debate over the very existence of climate change. While countless sources of empirical evidence testify to the very real presence of climate change the world over, considerable denial of the phenomenon still exists. The argument has been made that evidence of climate change is a gross overstatement, or in some cases, a complete fabrication.
Siegel, RP. "Solar Thermal: Pros and Cons - Part 1: Solar Heating and Cooling." Triple Pundit RSS. N.p., 21 May 2012. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. .
The nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan revealed the fragility of highly centralised energy systems that are not adapted into complex societies. Some technological solutions such as carbon dioxide capture or shale gas could even turn out to be mere illusions in the future. Meanwhile, energy costs are increasing every day, with social consequences. As a result, there have been calls for strong involvement of local authorities in formulating energy policies for cities. This will give rise to a more prominent place to decentralise policies on the basis of energy efficiency, energy savings as well the use of renewable energy. It is widely anticipated that the implementation of these policies by the relevant city authorities will play a prominent role in the transition to energy efficient cities (Energy-cities, 2011).
Surely there exist cities that are determined to transform into more eco-friendly representatives of urban civilization, yet these efforts are typically focused on minimizing the harmful output of cities rather than rew...
In addition to being incapable of providing a suitable environment, urban transition negatively impacts the climate.
Hardy, J. T. Climate Change: Causes, Effects, and Solutions. New York: J. Wiley, 2003. Print.
The earth is a complex system, which continues to evolve and change. Climate change and global warming are currently popular in the political agenda. But what does “climate” really mean? The difference between weather and climate can be conveyed in a single sentence: “Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.” Based on research of the geologic record, we know that climate change has happened throughout Earth's history and at present, ever-increasing evidence points to the roles that humans play in altering Earth systems. The Earth and its atmosphere receive heat energy from the sun; the atmospheric heat budget of the Earth depends on the balance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing radiation from the planet; which has been constant over the last few thousand years. However present evidence seems to suggest that the recent increase in temperature has been brought about by pollution of the atmosphere, in particular the release of huge amounts of carbon dioxide, mostly through Anthropogenic Forcing (human activity) and other various internal and external factors. I...
Nowadays, more than half of the world population lives in cities. Urban populations consume 75% of the world 's natural resources and generate 75% of waste. Cities have become consumers of enormous amounts of natural resources and generating massive environmental
This happens because the urban surface materials gain the heat from the solar during the day under clear sky and release those heat during night. In this paper, we have identified several significant factors that contribute to the formation of urban heat islands based on different research. Those factors are colour and type of materials used for pavement and roofs, lack of evapotranspiration, geometric effects of buildings, and waste heat generated by energy usage. A study by Mohajerani, Bakaric, and Jeffrey-Bailey (2017) in Australia showed that.