Extreme weather events; Food security; Health condition; Increasing temperatures; Literature review; Rural areas; Global and Planetary Change; Geography, Planning and Development; Development; Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Abstract :
[en] Purpose: As global warming intensifies, climatic conditions are changing dramatically, potentially affecting specific businesses and cities’ livability. The temperature increase in cities significantly affects urban residents whose percentage is to reach about 70% by 2050. This paper aimed at highlighting the climate change risks in cities, particularly focusing on the threats to people’s health due to a continuous temperature increase. Design/methodology/approach: This study was conducted in three main steps. First, the literature review on the effects of climate change, particularly on the continuous temperature rise in cities, was conducted based on the publications retrieved from PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar and Research Gate. Second, the survey was conducted for the sample cities for one month. Third, the questionnaire was used to assess possible climate change threats to the livability of cities. Findings: The findings showed that urban areas are usually warmer than the surrounding rural areas, mainly due to the urban heat island effect, causing more hot days in metropolitan areas compared to rural areas. This paper outlines some mitigation and adaptation measures, which can be implemented to improve the livability in cities, their sustainability and the well-being of their populations. Originality/value: This study reports on the climate change impacts on the health and livability of 15 cities, in industrialized and developing countries. It examines the average and maximum temperature and relative humidity of each city and its correlation with their livability. It was complemented by a survey focused on 109 cities from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania.
Disciplines :
Environmental sciences & ecology
Author, co-author :
Leal Filho, Walter; International Climate Change Information and Research Programme, Research and Transfer Centre “Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management”, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany
Tuladhar, Liza; International Climate Change Information and Research Programme, Research and Transfer Centre “Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management”, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany
Li, Chunlan; East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
Balogun, Abdul-Lateef Babatunde; Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Tronoh, Malaysia
Kovaleva, Marina; International Climate Change Information and Research Programme, Research and Transfer Centre “Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management”, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany
Abubakar, Ismaila Rimi; Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Azadi, Hossein ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Modélisation et développement ; Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Donkor, Felix Kwabena Kwabena; University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
Language :
English
Title :
Climate change and extremes: implications on city livability and associated health risks across the globe
Publication date :
06 January 2023
Journal title :
International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management
Alijani, S., Pourahmad, A., Nejad, H.H., Ziari, K. and Sodoudi, S. (2020), “A new approach of urban livability in Tehran: thermal comfort as a primitive indicator, case study, district 22”, Urban Climate, Vol. 33, p. 100656.
Allam, Z., Jones, D. and Thondoo, M. (2020), Cities and Climate Change: Climate Policy, Economic Resilience and Urban Sustainability, Springer, Berlin.
Åström, D.O., Bertil, F. and Joacim, R. (2011), “Heat wave impact on morbidity and mortality in the elderly population: a review of recent studies”, Maturitas, Vol. 69 No. 2, pp. 99-105, doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2011.03.008.
Baylis, M. (2017), “Potential impact of climate change on emerging vector-borne and other infections in the UK”, Environmental Health, Vol. 16 No. S1, doi: 10.1186/s12940-017-0326-1.
Béné, C., Mehta, L., McGranahan, G., (2018), “Resilience as a policy narrative: potentials and limits in the context of urban planning”, Climate and Development, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 116-133, doi: 10.1080/17565529.2017.1301868.
Berry, H.L., Bowen, K. and Kjellstrom, T. (2010), “Climate change and mental health: a causal pathways framework”, International Journal of Public Health, Vol. 55 No. 2, pp. 123-132, doi: 10.1007/s00038-009-0112-0.
Bhandari, D., Bi, P., Sherchand, J.B., (2020), “Assessing the effect of climate factors on childhood diarrhoea burden in Kathmandu, Nepal”, International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, Vol. 223 No. 1, pp. 199-206, doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2019.09.002.
Campbell-Lendrum, D., Manga, L., Bagayoko, M., (2015), “Climate change and vector-borne diseases: what are the implications for public health research and policy?”, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 370 No. 1665, p. 20130552, doi: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0552.
Cann, K.F., Thomas, D.R.H., Salmon, R.L., (2013), “Extreme water-related weather events and waterborne disease”, Epidemiology and Infection, Vol. 141 No. 4, pp. 671-686, doi: 10.1017/S0950268812001653.
Chowdhury, M., Rahman, S.M., Abubakar, I.R., (2021), “A review of policies and initiatives for climate change mitigation and environmental sustainability in Bangladesh”, Environment, Development and Sustainability, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 1133-1161.1, doi: 10.1007/s10668-020-00627-y.
Climate Data (2010), “Climate data for cities worldwide”, available at: https://en.climate-data.org/ (accessed 7 May 2021).
Cui, F., Tang, H. and Zhang, Q. (2018), “Urban livability and influencing factors in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei: an empirical study based on panel data from 2010-2016”, J. Beijing Normal Univ.(Nat. Sci.), Vol. 54, pp. 666-673.
D’Amato, G., Holgate, S.T., Pawankar, R., (2015), “The Meteorological conditions, climate change, new emerging factors, and asthma and related allergic disorders, a statement of the world allergy organization”, World Allergy Organization Journal, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 1-52, doi: 10.1186/s40413-015-0073-0.
Dang, T.N., Honda, Y., Van Do, D., (2019), “Effects of extreme temperatures on mortality and hospitalization in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam”, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol. 16 No. 3, p. 3, doi: 10.3390/ijerph16030432.
Dean, J.G. and Stain, H.J. (2010), “Mental health impact for adolescents living with prolonged drought”, Australian Journal of Rural Health, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 32-37, doi: 10.1111/j.14401584.2009.01107.x.
Demski, C., Capstick, S., Pidgeon, N., (2017), “Experience of extreme weather affects climate change mitigation and adaptation responses”, Climatic Change, Vol. 140 No. 2, pp. 149-164, doi: 10.1007/s10584-016-1837-4.
Donkor, F.K. (2020), “Recovery from social and economic chaos: the building of resilient communities”, in Leal Filho, W., Azul, A.M., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Özuyar, P.G., Wall, T. (Eds), No Poverty, Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 1-11, doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-69625-6_95-1.
Finlay, S.E., Moffat, A., Gazzard, R., (2012), “Health impacts of wildfires”, PLoS Currents, Vol. 4, doi: 10.1371/4f959951cce2c.
Gabriel, K.M.A. and Endlicher, W.R. (2011), “Urban and rural mortality rates during heat waves in Berlin and Brandenburg, Germany”, Environmental Pollution, Vol. 159 Nos 8/9, doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2011.01.016.
Haddad, S., Paolini, R., Ulpiani, G., Synnefa, A., Hatvani-Kovacs, G., Garshasbi, S., Fox, J., Vasilakopoulou, K., Nield, L. and Santamouris, M. (2020), “Holistic approach to assess co-benefits of local climate mitigation in a hot humid region of Australia”, Scientific Reports, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 1-17.
He, Y., Zhou, C. and Ahmed, T. (2021), “Vulnerability assessment of rural social-ecological system to climate change: a case study of Yunnan province, China”, International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 162-180, doi: 10.1108/IJCCSM-08-2020-0094.
Kashef, M. (2016), “Urban livability across disciplinary and professional boundaries”, Frontiers of Architectural Research, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 239-253, doi: 10.1016/j.foar.2016.03.003.
Kovacs-Györi, A., Ristea, A., Havas, C., Mehaffy, M., Hochmair, H.H., Resch, B., Juhasz, L., Lehner, A., Ramasubramanian, L. and Blaschke, T. (2020), “Opportunities and challenges of geospatial analysis for promoting urban livability in the era of big data and machine learning”, ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, Vol. 9 No. 12, p. 752.
Lane, K., Charles-Guzman, K., Wheeler, K., (2013), “Health effects of coastal storms and flooding in urban areas: a review and vulnerability assessment”, doi: 10.1155/2013/913064.
Leal Filho, W., Balogun, A.-L., Ayal, D.Y., (2018), “Strengthening climate change adaptation capacity in Africa- case studies from six major African cities and policy implications”, Environmental Science and Policy, Vol. 86, pp. 29-37, doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2018.05.004.
Lee, S., Kang, J.E., Park, C.S., (2020), “Multi-risk assessment of heat waves under intensifying climate change using Bayesian networks”, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Vol. 50, p. 101704, doi: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101704.
Linares, C., Culqui, D., Carmona, R., (2017), “Short-term association between environmental factors and hospital admissions due to dementia in Madrid”, Environmental Research, Vol. 152, pp. 214-220, doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2016.10.020.
Lloyd, S.J., Kovats, R.S. and Chalabi, Z. (2011), “Climate change, crop yields, and undernutrition: development of a model to quantify the impact of climate scenarios on child undernutrition”, Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 119 No. 12, pp. 1817-1823, doi: 10.1289/ehp.1003311.
Lo, Y.T.E., Mitchell, D.M., Gasparrini, A., (2019), “Increasing mitigation ambition to meet the Paris agreement’s temperature goal avoids substantial heat-related mortality in US cities”, Science Advances, Vol. 5 No. 6, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aau4373.
Macintyre, H.L., Heaviside, C., Taylor, J., (2018), “Assessing urban population vulnerability and environmental risks across an urban area during heatwaves – implications for health protection”, Science of the Total Environment, Vols 610/611, pp. 678-690, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.08.062.
Mazdiyasni, O., AghaKouchak, A., Davis, S.J., Madadgar, S., Mehran, A., Ragno, E., Sadegh, M., Sengupta, A., Ghosh, S. and Dhanya, C. (2017), “Increasing probability of mortality during Indian heat waves”, Science Advances, Vol. 3 No. 6, p. e1700066, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1700066.
Mitchell, D., Heaviside, C., Vardoulakis, S., Huntingford, C., Masato, G., Guillod, B.P., Frumhoff, P., Bowery, A., Wallom, D. and Allen, M. (2016), “Attributing human mortality during extreme heat waves to anthropogenic climate change”, Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 11 No. 7, p. 74006.
Mora, C., Dousset, B., Caldwell, I.R., Powell, F.E., Geronimo, R.C., Bielecki, C.R., Counsell, C.W., Dietrich, B.S., Johnston, E.T. and Louis, L.V. (2017), “Global risk of deadly heat”, Nature Climate Change, Vol. 7 No. 7, pp. 501-506, doi: 10.1038/nclimate3322.
Nitschke, M., Tucker, G.R., Hansen, A.L., (2011), “Impact of two recent extreme heat episodes on morbidity and mortality in Adelaide, South Australia: a case-series analysis”, Environmental Health, Vol. 10 No. 1, p. 42, doi: 10.1186/1476-069X-10-42.
Ogden, N.H. (2017), “Climate change and vector-borne diseases of public health significance”, FEMS Microbiology Letters, Vol. 364 No. 19, doi: 10.1093/femsle/fnx186.
Orru, H., Ebi, K.L. and Forsberg, B. (2017), “The interplay of climate change and air pollution on health”, Current Environmental Health Reports, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 504-513, doi: 10.1007/s40572-0170168-6.
Oudin Åström, D., Forsberg, B., Ebi, K.L., (2013), “Attributing mortality from extreme temperatures to climate change in Stockholm, Sweden”, Nature Climate Change, Vol. 3 No. 12, pp. 1050-1054, doi: 10.1038/nclimate2022.
Paci, D. (2014), “Human health impacts of climate change in Europe: report for the PESETA II project”, Publications Office, Luxembourg, available at: https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2791/64481 (accessed 7 May 2021).
Paterson, D.L., Wright, H. and Harris, P.N.A. (2018), “Health risks of flood disasters”, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Vol. 67 No. 9, pp. 1450-1454, doi: 10.1093/cid/ciy227.
Phalkey, R.K., Aranda-Jan, C., Marx, S., (2015), “Systematic review of current efforts to quantify the impacts of climate change on undernutrition”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 112 No. 33, pp. E4522-E4529, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1409769112.
Prince, E.R. (2017), “An analysis of the impacts of temperature on diarrheal disease in Bangladesh”, International Journal of Social Science and Economic Research, Vol. 2 No. 11, pp. 5041-5049.
Ragettli, M.S., Vicedo-Cabrera, A.M., Flückiger, B., (2019), “Impact of the warm summer 2015 on emergency hospital admissions in Switzerland”, Environmental Health, Vol. 18 No. 1, doi: 10.1186/s12940-019-0507-1.
Revi, A., Satterthwaite, D.E., Aragón-Durand, F., (2014), “Urban areas”, in Field, C.B., Barros, V.R., Dokken, D.J. K.J. (Eds), Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, NY, pp. 535-612.
Sahani, N., Goswami, S.K. and Saha, A. (2020), “The impact of COVID-19 induced lockdown on the changes of air quality and land surface temperature in Kolkata city, India”, Spatial Information Research, Vol. 29 No. 4, doi: 10.1007/s41324-020-00372-4.
Si, P., Zheng, Z. and Ren, Y., (2014), “Effects of urbanization on daily temperature extremes in North China”, Journal of Geographical Sciences, Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 349-362, doi: 10.1007/s11442-014.
Smith, K.R., Woodward, A., Campbell-Lendrum, D., (2014), “Human health: impacts, adaptation, and co-benefits”, in Field, C.B., Barros, V.R. and Dokken, D.J.K.J. (Eds), Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, NY, pp. 709-754.
Tan, J., Zheng, Y., Tang, X., (2010), “The urban heat island and its impact on heat waves and human health in shanghai”, International Journal of Biometeorology, Vol. 54 No. 1, pp. 75-84, doi: 10.1007/s00484-009-0256-x.
Tiihonen, J., Halonen, P., Tiihonen, L., (2017), “The association of ambient temperature and violent crime”, Scientific Reports, Vol. 7 No. 1, p. 1, doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-06720-z.
Timeanddate (2017), “Weather in June 2017 in new Delhi, Delhi, India”, available at:www.timeanddate.com/weather/india/new-delhi/historic?month=6&year=2017 (accessed 7 May 2021).
Timeanddate (2019), “Weather in July 2019 in shanghai, shanghai municipality, China”, available at:www.timeanddate.com/weather/china/shanghai/historic?month=7&year=2019 (accessed 7 May 2021).
Tong, S. (2013), “The effect of heat waves on ambulance attendances in Brisbane, Australia”, available at: https://core.ac.uk/reader/143864180 (accessed 10 June 2020).
Trang, P.M., Rocklöv, J., Giang, K.B., (2016), “Heatwaves and hospital admissions for mental disorders in Northern Vietnam”, Plos One, Vol. 11 No. 5, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155609.
USGCRP (2016), “The impacts of climate change on human health in the United States: a scientific assessment”, US Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, available at: executive-summary.html (accessed 7 May 2021).
Wang, J., Su, M., Chen, B., Chen, S. and Liang, C. (2011), “A comparative study of Beijing and three global cities: a perspective on urban livability”, Frontiers of Earth Science, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 323-329.
Weather Atlas (2010), “Weather atlas, weather forecast and climate information for cities all over the globe”, available at: www.weather-atlas.com/en (accessed 7 May 2021).
Wheeler, T. and Von Braun, J. (2013), “Climate change impacts on global food security”, Science, Vol. 341 No. 6145, pp. 508-513, doi: 10.1126/science.1239402.
Wu, J., Yunus, M., Streatfield, P.K., (2014), “Association of climate variability and childhood diarrhoeal disease in rural Bangladesh, 2000-2006”, Epidemiology and Infection, Vol. 142 No. 9, pp. 1859-1868, doi: 10.1017/S095026881300277X.
Ylipaa, J., Gabrielsson, S. and Jerneck, A. (2019), “Climate change adaptation and gender inequality: Insights from rural Vietnam”, Sustainability, Vol. 11 No. 10, p. 2805, doi: 10.3390/su11102805.
Zander, K.K., Botzen, W.J.W., Oppermann, E., (2015), “Heat stress causes substantial labour productivity loss in Australia”, Nature Climate Change, Vol. 5 No. 7, pp. 647-651, doi: 10.1038/nclimate2623.
Zanella, A., Camanho, A.S. and Dias, T.G. (2015), “The assessment of cities’ livability integrating human wellbeing and environmental impact”, Annals of Operations Research, Vol. 226 No. 1, pp. 695-726.
Zhan, D., Zhang, W., Yu, J., Chen, L. and Dang, Y. (2016), “Spatial characteristics and forming mechanism of urban livability in Beijing based on objective evaluation”, Areal Research and Development, Vol. 35, pp. 68-73.
