Abstract:The death toll of recent heat waves in developed countries has been remarkably high, contradicting the common assumption that high levels of economic and technological development automatically lead to lower vulnerability to weather extremes. Future climate change may further increase this vulnerability. In this article we examine some recent evidence of heat wave-related mortality and we conclude that while economic wealth and technological capacity might be a necessary condition for adequately coping with ad… Show more
“…The heat waves across Europe in 2003 and 2010 indicate the vulnerability of urban populations. This is despite the high levels of development in Europe (Lass et al 2011).…”
This chapter examines observed and potential future climate change impacts on socioeconomic fields concerning urban complexes in the Baltic Sea basin. This is based on the literature review that focused mainly on English publications on climate change impacts, but included some publications in other languages on adaptation. In the Baltic Sea basin, there appears to be an imbalance between cities and towns that have been well studied with reference to climate change impacts, and cities or even regions for which there is hardly any published literature. For those publications that do exist, most concern the impact of a specific climate change effect (temperature rise, extreme events, sea-level rise) on a particular socioeconomic field of an urban complex. The results of the literature review indicate that urban complexes in the Baltic Sea catchment are likely to experience climate change impacts within wide-ranging contexts: from urban services and technical infrastructure, to buildings and settlement structures and to the urban economy or population. Impacts will differ depending on the location of the urban complex: northern versus southern and coastal versus inland.
IntroductionThis chapter examines observed and potential future climate change impacts on socio-economic fields concerning urban complexes. Urban complexes are human-dominated settlements with relatively higher population density than rural settlements. The term comprises cities and towns. Urban complexes are further characterised by high concentrations of buildings and built-up areas with consequent soil sealing, high concentrations of people and infrastructure as well as specific economic and cultural roles and activities. These factors render urban complexes particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts (Hunt and Watkiss 2011). As every urban complex is characterised by a specific mix of social, ecological and economic interdependencies and its own settlement and building structure, it is difficult to generalise on scientific findings concerning urban complexes. Moreover, in the Baltic Sea basin, there seems to be an imbalance between cities and towns that have been well studied with reference to climate change impacts, and cities or even regions for which there is hardly any published literature. For those publications that do exist, most concern the impact of a specific climate change effect (temperature rise, extreme events, sea-level rise) on a particular socioeconomic field of an urban complex. Systematic case studies are available but are mostly on the impacts of climate on human health (Analitis et al.
“…The heat waves across Europe in 2003 and 2010 indicate the vulnerability of urban populations. This is despite the high levels of development in Europe (Lass et al 2011).…”
This chapter examines observed and potential future climate change impacts on socioeconomic fields concerning urban complexes in the Baltic Sea basin. This is based on the literature review that focused mainly on English publications on climate change impacts, but included some publications in other languages on adaptation. In the Baltic Sea basin, there appears to be an imbalance between cities and towns that have been well studied with reference to climate change impacts, and cities or even regions for which there is hardly any published literature. For those publications that do exist, most concern the impact of a specific climate change effect (temperature rise, extreme events, sea-level rise) on a particular socioeconomic field of an urban complex. The results of the literature review indicate that urban complexes in the Baltic Sea catchment are likely to experience climate change impacts within wide-ranging contexts: from urban services and technical infrastructure, to buildings and settlement structures and to the urban economy or population. Impacts will differ depending on the location of the urban complex: northern versus southern and coastal versus inland.
IntroductionThis chapter examines observed and potential future climate change impacts on socio-economic fields concerning urban complexes. Urban complexes are human-dominated settlements with relatively higher population density than rural settlements. The term comprises cities and towns. Urban complexes are further characterised by high concentrations of buildings and built-up areas with consequent soil sealing, high concentrations of people and infrastructure as well as specific economic and cultural roles and activities. These factors render urban complexes particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts (Hunt and Watkiss 2011). As every urban complex is characterised by a specific mix of social, ecological and economic interdependencies and its own settlement and building structure, it is difficult to generalise on scientific findings concerning urban complexes. Moreover, in the Baltic Sea basin, there seems to be an imbalance between cities and towns that have been well studied with reference to climate change impacts, and cities or even regions for which there is hardly any published literature. For those publications that do exist, most concern the impact of a specific climate change effect (temperature rise, extreme events, sea-level rise) on a particular socioeconomic field of an urban complex. Systematic case studies are available but are mostly on the impacts of climate on human health (Analitis et al.
“…Consequently, debates among policy makers are focusing around the issue of how to maintain urban regions as attractive, productive and safe places in the future. These debates evolve in a direct relation with the governance of heat risks, an emerging policy field in Europe in the wake of the 2003 and 2006 heat waves which resulted in peaks in morbidity and mortality, and a sharp controversy across the continent (Boezeman, Ganzevoort, Lier & Louwers, 2014;Kovats & Hajat, 2008;Lass, Haas, Hinkel & Jaeger, 2011). The central question in these debates is whether and how urban warming should be a legitimate object for governance, and, if so, whether it should be a matter of social cohesion policy (Klinenberg, 2003;Poumadère, Mays, Le Mer & Blong, 2005), town planning (Hebbert & Mackillop, 2013), public health (Kovats & Hajat, 2008), or any other field of collective organisation.…”
“…According to Heffernan [21], adaptation as a strategy of coping with climate change, in contrast to mitigation strategies, has not remained at the center of scientific focus to date. Recently, however, the reality of climate extremes in the form of events, such as floods, droughts or heat waves [22], has forced researchers and policy-makers to explore ways of handling these extremes and adaptation to climate change has become more topical and pertinent than ever before.…”
Abstract:The primary objective of this paper is to analyse households' adaptation measures to the impacts of repeated extreme weather events, specifically floods, which belong amongst the most serious manifestation of ongoing climate change in Europe. The case study focuses on a rural area in the north-east part of the Czech Republic, in the catchment basin of the Bečva River. A total of 605 households were addressed within the framework of the questionnaire survey. On the basis of the conducted research, we determined that the total amount of adaptation measures adopted by those dwelling in residential homes within the investigated catchment area was relatively low. In contrast, however, one of the most important adaptation measures-house elevation-was applied by 46.94% of the houses (up to 1 m) and by 21.16% houses (elevated more than 1 m) respectively. We also found that the amount and scope of adaptation measures realized by households were influenced by certain socio-demographic factors of the inhabitants. The most statistically significant factors included households with more residents or families
OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 12759 with more children living in the household, as well as those with a higher level of education. Flood experience, the level of damage, and individual flood risk perception also played an important role.
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