While 20th century architecture learned to control the climate of a building, the architecture of the 21st century needs to learn to cope with the climate of cities. Problems such as urban heat and air pollution need to be included in planning and design. Based on empirical realities in Cairo, Chongqing, Geneva and Santiago de Chile, the book underlines that the materiality and social practices attached to room heating, compound greening, street alignment or climate policies together form the tissue for contemporary urban climates. It interweaves socio-cultural with meteorological data and pioneers the new concept of "thermal governance" by linking architectural and technological as well as legal and economic dimensions of climate control in urban environments.

This book describes the urgent challenge faced by cities worldwide to become resilient to climate change impacts. This challenge goes further than the ability to resist the impacts of extreme weather conditions. Coping with climate impacts and the ability to recover from them are equally important, as well as the capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change and the ability to transform the entire urban system. The book explores how the resilience journey for coastal cities in particular encompasses using scientific knowledge but also the knowledge of citizens and practitioners. Measures and strategies on different scales are needed, from national scale all the way down to neighbourhood, street level and building level. Representing the holistic nature of climate resilience, this collection contains unique insights from leading scientists and practitioners in areas of expertise such as engineering, social sciences and urban design. It will be a valuable resource for scholars, students, practitioners and policy makers interested in the development of resilient and sustainable urban environments.

Climate Change and Cities bridges science-to-action for climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in cities around the world.

Urban Climates is the first full synthesis of modern scientific and applied research on urban climates. The book begins with an outline of what constitutes an urban ecosystem. It develops a comprehensive terminology for the subject using scale and surface classification as key constructs. It explains the physical principles governing the creation of distinct urban climates, such as airflow around buildings, the heat island, precipitation modification and air pollution, and it then illustrates how this knowledge can be applied to moderate the undesirable consequences of urban development and help create more sustainable and resilient cities. With urban climate science now a fully-fledged field, this timely book fulfills the need to bring together the disparate parts of climate research on cities into a coherent framework. It is an ideal resource for students and researchers in fields such as climatology, urban hydrology, air quality, environmental engineering and urban design.

In 1950, only 30 percent of the world’s population lived in cities. By 2007, the planet’s population has doubled, and today, as many people live in cities as populated the entire planet in 1950. Eighty percent of the planet’s greenhouse gases are created by these energy-intensive urban centers. Thus, the key to creating climate change solutions resides with cities. Author and Ottawa city councilor Clive Doucet provides a razor-sharp insider’s perspective, stating his central theme: “It’s not about planning. It’s about politics.” Climate change is proceeding so quickly not for lack of knowledge, but because politicians who deviate from the car-based sprawl model cannot get elected. Urban Meltdown describes how we got here, why we got here, and what can be done about it, as evidenced by the author’s observations that: • Economic growth has no built-in environmental accountability. • Until the political thinking about growth and the progress model itself is changed, our environmental concerns will never be properly addressed. • We need a new governance paradigm at all three levels. • The cautionary tale of how the 1960s tried to take us down a different route failed, not for lack of leadership but because the system didn’t permit it. Urban Meltdown reveals, castigates, and inspires. This is an important book for anyone who cares about thinking differently, acting differently, and making a difference. Clive Doucet is an urban activist, well-known journalist, best-selling author, and the first poet ever elected to Ottawa City Council.

This open access book brings together research findings and experiences from science, policy and practice to highlight and debate the importance of nature-based solutions to climate change adaptation in urban areas. Emphasis is given to the potential of nature-based approaches to create multiple-benefits for society. The expert contributions present recommendations for creating synergies between ongoing policy processes, scientific programmes and practical implementation of climate change and nature conservation measures in global urban areas. Except where otherwise noted, this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This volume explores how climate change impacts interact with poverty and vulnerability to increase the risk for urban residents in Southeast Asia. It combines knowledge from both academic literature and action research to explore the creation of climate resilient urban governance that is both inclusive and equitable. The book contains contributions from researchers in different cities in Southeast Asia involved with the major research project Building Urban Climate Change Resilience in Southeast Asian Cities (UCRSEA). The authors respond to three urgent questions: How does climate change interact with poverty and vulnerability to create risk for urban residents in Southeast Asia? What does knowledge, from both academic literature and action research, tell us about creating climate resilient urban governance that is both inclusive and equitable? How can we strengthen the agency of individuals, groups and institutions to improve economic, physical and social well-being in urban areas, particularly in response to climate change? The book hopes to answer to current challenges posed by climate change. In the volume, the authors discuss how the agency of individuals, groups and institutions can be strengthened to improve economic, physical and social well-being in urban areas, particularly in response to climate change.