Importance of assessing outdoor thermal comfort and its use in urban adaptation strategies: a case study of Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Long-Term Assessment of Bioclimatic Conditions at Micro and Local Scales in the Cities of the Western Part of the Balkan Peninsula during the 21st Century

“…The results in this study are in good accordance with previous studies for this area. For example, a study of biometeorological conditions in Banja Luka based on long-term data (1961-2020) shows an increasing trend of PET values, as of 0.7 • C per decade [5]. The same study shows that in the last three decades, mean values of PET are higher compared to the previous period.…”

“…The long-term OTC conditions in Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina) based on meteorological data from 1961 to 2020 were performed by Savić et al [5]. The analysis of PET, UTCI, and Tmrt indices indicates a consistent and significant increase in the occurrence of extreme and strong heat days over the past 20 years.…”

“…According to the IPCC report [4], the global surface temperature has increased by 0.99 • C comparing the periods 1850-1900 and 2001-2020, and by 1.09 • C comparing the periods 1850-1900 and 2011-2020. This means that the upward temperature trend is consistently growing with each decade, triggering more frequent and intense extreme thermal events in most land regions since the 1950s [4,5]. The trend has continued in recent years.…”

“…In addition, thermal comfort conditions can serve as a foundation for understanding the impacts of climate conditions on humans, and they place a special emphasis on social elements that either lessen or amplify the effects of environmental change [14]. Human thermal comfort has recently been considered in heat mitigation and urban adaptation strategies [5,15]. Hence, it is crucial to prioritize comprehensive monitoring and assessments of OTC conditions in both rural/non-urbanized and urban/built-up areas in the future.…”

Urbanization trends in the 21st century: A driver for negative climate, noise and air quality impacts on urban population

“…The combined climate and urbanization pressures on public health and the environment in cities will continue in coming decades and will increase the necessity to provide more optimal solutions to monitor and assess urban environmental risks, and to find effective ways to implement these in practice. The defined interaction process "climate change-urbanization-urban climate" where the climate conditions are recognized as an important risk factor in cities (Savić et al, 2022), in the further steps of the environmental risk adaptation, wider risk factors within cities should be considered. Therefore, the interaction process "climate change-urbanization-urban environment" should include, in addition to climate condition risks, air quality and noise risks as elements that are directly driven by current weather conditions, traffic intensity, industrial and construction activity, heating supply in winter, and urban design application, and all of that should be included in future urban environmental risk assessments.…”