Where to Go or Where Not to Go—A Method for Advising Communities during Extreme Temperatures

Abstract

Climate change is producing more extremes and increasing the number and magnitude of risks that impact people’s lives, so identifying and understanding local climate risks is a long but essential process for defining adaptation strategies. The availability of technologies to sensitize and educate people about risks, and to assist people with becoming active observers and monitors of climatic elements has helped to promote permanent surveillance and proactive attitudes towards climatic phenomena that lead to undesirable risks. This paper proposes a methodological approach to guide citizens moving around the city when extreme temperatures occur, minimizing climatic risks and negative health comes, using a very simple method based on Landsat 8 temperature data images at a subsection spatial scale level. The results obtained indicate the places of higher extreme temperatures risks, as well as some of the potential places that people can use to protect themselves. This work demonstrates the value of mapping climatic factors at a local scale and deliver tailored and accurate maps with the places suitable for alleviating bioclimatic stresses and the places that should be avoided.

Public Health Aspects of Climate Change Adaptation in Three Cities: A Qualitative Study

“…Porto is a city in northern Portugal and the center of the Porto metropolitan area. It is 41.42 km 2 in area, with 263,131 inhabitants and a population density of 5736 inhabitants/km 2 [ 58 ]. The climate is temperate oceanic, with mild, rainy winters [ 59 ].…”

The Use of Collaborative Practices for Climate Change Adaptation in the Tourism Sector until 2040—A Case Study in the Porto Metropolitan Area (Portugal)

“…The absence of a scale of action means that there is no accountability of the entities for the creation of measures and strategies capable of mitigating the extreme effects caused by climate change. Scientific and technological knowledge is considered the crucial element of response to these conditions [75,76]. In the specific case of urban tourism, it is verified that the action must be developed at governmental and municipal level.…”

“…The huge difficulty in establishing causative relationships between anthropogenic actions (at local and sub-regional level) and climatic phenomena (physical dimension) brings along some surprises-some with socio-economic implications and a relevant number of fatalities [75,76]. The main problems are related to:…”

Supporting Urban Climate Adaptation Governance Through Citizen Sensing

“…In particular with respect to urban heat, site-specific information is required to assess risk for urban heat islands for e.g. specific neighborhoods, where assessments related to socio-economic and other parameters of the local population can guide urban adaptation (Madureira et al 2021;Rød and Maarse 2021). CS allows the collection of information that is relevant to citizens on the local scale, where and when impacts are observed.…”

“…On one hand, such information may raise citizen awareness concerning the incidence of the urban heat island effect and associated risks, thus facilitating engagement in adaptation strategies. On the other hand, authorities can pinpoint hotspots in the urban fabric that increase risk for vulnerable groups and act preventively in those areas (Madureira et al 2021;Rød and Maarse 2021). However, the CS approach can also be expanded to other types of climate impacts more pressing in different latitudes or seasons of the year.…”