scholarly journals Urban Renovation and the Simulation Evaluation of Urban Climate Change in Residential and Commercial Districts: A Case of Xi’an, China

Author(s):  
Wang Yupeng ◽  
Ma Dixuan ◽  
Li Man ◽  
Zhou Dian
Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 546
Author(s):  
Andreas Matzarakis

In the era of climate change, before developing and establishing mitigation and adaptation measures that counteract urban heat island (UHI) effects [...]


2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 411-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valéry Masson ◽  
Aude Lemonsu ◽  
Julia Hidalgo ◽  
James Voogt

Cities are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather episodes, which are expected to increase with climate change. Cities also influence their own local climate, for example, through the relative warming known as the urban heat island (UHI) effect. This review discusses urban climate features (even in complex terrain) and processes. We then present state-of-the-art methodologies on the generalization of a common urban neighborhood classification for UHI studies, as well as recent developments in observation systems and crowdsourcing approaches. We discuss new modeling paradigms pertinent to climate impact studies, with a focus on building energetics and urban vegetation. In combination with regional climate modeling, new methods benefit the variety of climate scenarios and models to provide pertinent information at urban scale. Finally, this article presents how recent research in urban climatology contributes to the global agenda on cities and climate change.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Fallmann ◽  
Hans Schipper ◽  
Stefan Emeis ◽  
Marc Barra ◽  
Holger Tost

<p>With more and more people residing in cities globally, urban areas are particularly vulnerable to climate change. It is therefore important, that the principles of climate-resilient city planning are reflected in the planning phase already. A discussion of adaptation measures requires a holistic understanding of the complex urban environment, and necessarily has to involve cross-scale interactions, both spatially and temporally. This work examines the term “Smart City” with regard to its suitability for the definition of sustainable urban planning based on urban climate studies over the past decade and own modelling work. Existing literature is assessed from a meteorological perspective in order to answer the question how results from these studies can be linked to architectural design of future urban areas. It has been long understood that measures such as urban greening, or so-called "Nature Based Solutions", are able to dampen excess heat and help reducing energetic costs. As numerous studies show however, integrating vegetation in the urban landscape shares a double role in regional adaptation to climate change due to both cooling effect and air pollution control. Using the state-of-the-art chemical transport model MECO(n) coupled to the urban canopy parametrisation TERRA_URB, we simulated a case study for the Rhine-Main metropolitan region in Germany, highlighting mutual unwanted relationships in modern city planning. Hence, we oppose the so-called compact city approach to an urban greening scenario with regard to the potential for both heat island mitigation and air quality.</p>


Global Policy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 549-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilia Smeds ◽  
Michele Acuto
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Audrey de Nazelle ◽  
Charlotte J. Roscoe ◽  
Aina Roca-Barcelό ◽  
Giselle Sebag ◽  
Gudrun Weinmayr ◽  
...  

Motivated by a growing recognition of the climate emergency, reflected in the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26), we outline untapped opportunities to improve health through ambitious climate actions in cities. Health is a primary reason for climate action yet is rarely integrated in urban climate plans as a policy goal. This is a missed opportunity to create sustainable alliances across sectors and groups, to engage a broad set of stakeholders, and to develop structural health promotion. In this statement, we first briefly review the literature on health co-benefits of urban climate change strategies and make the case for health-promoting climate action; we then describe barriers to integrating health in climate action. We found that the evidence-base is often insufficiently policy-relevant to be impactful. Research rarely integrates the complexity of real-world systems, including multiple and dynamic impacts of strategies, and consideration of how decision-making processes contend with competing interests and short-term electoral cycles. Due to siloed-thinking and restrictive funding opportunities, research often falls short of the type of evidence that would be most useful for decision-making, and research outputs can be cryptic to decision makers. As a way forward, we urge researchers and stakeholders to engage in co-production and systems thinking approaches. Partnering across sectors and disciplines is urgently needed so pathways to climate change mitigation and adaptation fully embrace their health-promoting potential and engage society towards the huge transformations needed. This commentary is endorsed by the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) and the International Society for Urban Health (ISUH) and accompanies a sister statement oriented towards stakeholders (published on the societies’ websites).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keira Webster

Climate change is a systemic issue embedded in and interconnected with the social and economic makeup of a city. Building urban climate resilience requires innovative, collaborative solutions that hinge upon the openness and availability of current and contextual data. Open data tools, in stimulating information sharing, civic engagement, and innovative products, can contribute to climate change planning, building lasting resilience. Through an exploratory research methodology, this paper explores 17 international use cases, providing a basis for the implementation of open data tools in the realm of urban climate resilience, through the following five themes: 1) risk and vulnerability assessment; 2) the inception of initiatives; 3) diverging approaches to preparedness; 4) community mobilization; and 5) mitigation and adaptation. This research aims to spark a dialogue on the intersection of open data tools in urban climate resilience strategies, demonstrating open data as an appropriate tool to cultivate shared understanding and collective action.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonina Kriuger ◽  
Alexander Reinbold ◽  
Martina Schubert-Frisius ◽  
Jörg Cortekar

<p>Cities are particularly vulnerable to climate change. At the same time, cities change slowly. Accordingly, preparatory measures to adapt to climate change have to be taken urgently. High-performance urban climate models with various applications can form the basis for prospective planning decisions, however, as of today no such model exists that can be easily applied outside of the scientific community. Therefore, the funding program Urban Climate Under Change [UC]<sup>2</sup> aims to further develop the new urban climate model PALM-4U (Parallelized Large-Eddy Simulation Model for Urban Applications) into a practice-oriented and user-friendly product that meets the needs of municipalities and other practical users in addition to scientific research.</p><p>Specifically, the high-performance model PALM-4U allows simulation of entire large cities comprising the area over 1.000 km<sup>2</sup> with a grid size of down to few meters. One of our goals within the project ProPolis is to design and test the practical implementation of PALM-4U in standard and innovative application fields which include thermal comfort (indices like PT, PET, UTCI), cold air balance (source areas, reach and others), local wind comfort (indices derived from medium winds and gusts) as well as dispersion of pollutants.</p><p>In close cooperation with our practice partners, we explore the potential of PALM-4U to support the urban planning processes in each specific application setting. Additionally, with development of the fit for purpose graphic user interface, manuals and trainings we aim to enable practitioners to apply the model for their individual planning questions and adaptation measures.</p><p>In our presentation, we will show an application case of PALM-4U in a major German city. We will investigate the effect of a planned development area on the local climate and the impact of different climate change adaptation measures (such as extensive vs. intensive green roofs). The comparative simulations of the current state and planning scenarios with integrated green and blue infrastructure should provide arguments for the municipal decision making in consideration of climate change aspects in a densely built-up environment, e.g. urban heat stress.</p>


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