Abstract

Urban environments are becoming increasingly important for a majority of the earth's population as urban areas continue to increase in size and population. This chapter describes the general impact of urbanization on the local environment and how the increase in amount of impervious hard surfaced areas, dark colored building materials, and unvegetated areas, can lead to both increasing urban temperatures in the form of urban heat islands as well as increasing surface runoff of urban storm water. Urbanization and climate change is from many aspects working in the same direction reinforcing the effects of one another both in relation to temperatures and stormwater runoff. It is possible to slow down the rate of urbanization but the main focus has been on and mitigation strategies for both the negative effects on climate change and urbanization. Possible mitigation strategies including plans for increasing the area of vegetated surfaces to combat primarily urban temperatures and stormwater runoff are discussed in relation to both physical effects and possible community effects.

Keywords

Albedo; Urban heat island; Green infrastructure; Evapotranspiration; Street trees; Green roofs; Stormwater run-off; Flooding; Climate change

Published in

Title: The impacts of climate change : a comprehensive study of physical, biophysical, social, and political issues
ISBN: 978-0-12-822373-4
Publisher: Elsevier Inc.
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-822373-4.00009-4

SLU Authors

• Emilsson, Tobias

  • Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Climate Research
Landscape Architecture


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-822373-4.00009-4

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/114642