Climate Change and Urbanization: A Growing Challenge
The combination of climate change and urbanization presents significant challenges for citizens across multiple dimensions. During the summer, heatwaves pose particularly severe impacts on health, socioeconomic conditions, and the environment. These prolonged periods of abnormally high temperatures have multiple consequences with diverse causes, necessitating various approaches to address them.
Socioeconomic and Health Impacts of Heatwaves
Heatwaves bring about socioeconomic issues such as reduced labor productivity, especially in outdoor sectors like agriculture and construction. Moreover, decreased agricultural production can threaten food security. Health-wise, high temperatures lead to dehydration and exacerbate chronic conditions, particularly affecting vulnerable groups like the elderly. The heat also negatively impacts mental health due to stress.
In Spain, heatwaves are a destructive extreme event. In 2023, over 8,000 heat-related deaths occurred, with more than 200 fatalities per million inhabitants, concentrated mainly in Barcelona (839), Madrid (830), and Valencia (561).
Heatwaves in Spain typically occur in July and August, with their frequency and intensity increasing significantly over the past few decades. This rise intensifies wildfire risks and challenges agriculture to adapt with more viable crops.
Urban Heat: The Need for Green Strategies
The increasing frequency of heatwaves in the Mediterranean basin necessitates public and private policies addressing economic, social, and environmental aspects.
Climate models project temperature changes under varying carbon emission scenarios. Pessimistic projections show several regions by the end of this century experiencing high temperatures and low humidity, posing survival limits for living beings.
The health and mortality impact is especially severe in densely populated areas, where traffic, economic activity concentration, and street/building materials trap heat. In these zones, actions like traffic restrictions and green infrastructure promotion are recommended.
The temperature difference between areas with and without green infrastructure can reach 20 degrees. For instance, Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, lacking vegetation, has reached 54°C.
Benefits of Urban Nature
Green infrastructure’s multifunctionality makes it ideal for combating urban heat. It helps moderate temperatures, increase humidity, reduce airborne particulate pollution, boost biodiversity with native plants, and encourage healthy recreational habits. Its sustainability adds to its appeal as a nature-based solution.
Society has implemented heatwave countermeasures with positive effects. Adaptation strategies have reduced mortality by up to 80%, indicating room for further progress in this area.
Prevention plans and public behavior during heatwaves are decreasing vulnerability to extreme heat. Between 2000-2014, the minimum mortality temperature (lowest risk) was 15°C; between 2016-2019, it rose to 17.7°C, showing human body resilience.
Recommendations for Heatwave Management
- Promote green infrastructure: Its multifunctionality and sustainability decrease temperatures, improve humidity, reduce pollution, and enhance environmental well-being through recreational spaces.
- Encourage renewable, clean, and sustainable energy sources: Replace fossil fuels, whose combustion exacerbates global warming.
- Establish emergency plans: Assist vulnerable populations in finding suitable shelters during extreme temperatures.
Read more: Why urban heat island phenomenon matters for health?
- Regulate outdoor work hours: Particularly for professions at risk of heatstroke, like agriculture and construction.
When planning urban greenery, the goal is to ensure nearby access to green spaces for residents. This can be achieved through large parks and gardens, as well as green roofs, interior spaces, or street trees. The aim is to position cities within a garden, not the other way around.
Creating greener cities is a crucial strategy for helping urban dwellers cope with an increasingly warm world.
