Climate Risk Mitigation and Adaptation Concerns in Urban Areas: A Systematic Review of the Impact of IPCC Assessment Reports

Abstract

Urban areas continue to be the center of action for many countries due to their contribution to economic development. Many urban areas, through the urbanization process, have become vulnerable to climate risk, thereby making risk mitigation and adaptation essential components in urban planning. The study assessed the impacts of IPCC Assessment Reports (ARs) on academic research on risk mitigation and adaptation concerns in urban areas. The study systematically reviewed literature through searches of the Web of Science and Scopus databases; 852 papers were retrieved and 370 were deemed eligible. The results showed that the East Asia and Pacific, and Europe and Central Asia regions were most interested in IPCC ARs, while Sub-Saharan Africa showed little interest. Several urban concerns, including socio-economic, air quality, extreme temperature, sea level rise/flooding, health, and water supply/drought, were identified. Additionally, studies on negative health outcomes due to extreme temperatures and air pollution did not appear in the first four IPCC ARs. However, significant studies appeared after the launch of the AR5. Here, we must state that climate-related problems of urbanization were known and discussed in scientific papers well before the formation of the IPCC. For instance, the works of Clarke on urban structure and heat mortality and Oke on climatic impacts of urbanization. Though the IPCC ARs show impact, their emphasis on combined mitigation and adaptation policies is limited. This study advocates more combined risk mitigation and adaptation policies in urban areas for increased resilience to climate risk.

Classifying climate vulnerability and inequalities in India, Mexico, and Nigeria: a latent class analysis approach

“…Those in urban areas may have improved access to amenities, information, and services, as well as more diversified incomes less impacted by climate change, whereas in rural areas people engaged in livelihoods highly dependent on natural resources and weather [3]. Though our respondents did not report this, literature does increasingly show urban areas are not immune to the harms of climate change, and in fact may be at high risk, particularly the poorest and most marginalized urban residents [34,35]. Potentially, living in an urban area creates more distance between the person and perceived climate problems in rural areas (though evidence remains mixed) [36].…”