Yet another climate change side effect: more frequent urban heat waves. And because urban temperatures tend higher than rural ones, cities should be ready to protect the most vulnerable.
Rob McDonald of the Nature Conservancy shares his thoughts on an evolving threat. "I was struck by how frequently big cities get hit by a bad heat wave: from Chicago in 1995 to Moscow in 2010 to London today. While for any particular city bad heat waves occur only infrequently, there are several cities globally facing one every summer."
Causalities were especially high during the European heat wave of 2003. "In France, the most impacted country, there were 11,000 deaths. The total for all Europe was greater than 70,000 dead. [...] The event produced "so many bodies that the morgues were full, requiring other refrigerators in a vegetable market to be commandeered."
The trend toward severe weather, says McDonald, can be attributed to climate change. "[...] these kind of extreme heat waves will become more common. One study for the U.S. predicted a four-fold increase in the number of days with extreme heat by 2050."
McDonald suggests ways cities can mitigate the danger. These include emergency cooling centers located near those at risk (such as the elderly) as well as more urban green space. He writes, "by providing shade the trees reduced the 'urban heat island' effect, the tendency for cities to be generally hotter than the surrounding countryside [...] trees and other vegetation also cool the air in cities because they transpire water into the atmosphere," storing excess heat away from ground level.
FULL STORY: Hot Times, Summer in the City: Understanding the Urban Heat Wave
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
New York Transit Agency Launches Performance Dashboard
The tool increases transparency about the agency’s performance on a variety of metrics.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.