Making cities resilient to climate change: identifying “win–win” interventions

Urbanisation is truly a global phenomenon. Starting at 39% in 1980, the urbanisation level rose to 52% in 2011. Ongoing rapid urbanisation has led to increase in urban greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Urban climate change risks have also increased with increase in climate-induced extreme weather events and more low-income urban dwellers living in climate sensitive locations. Despite increased emissions, including GHGs and heightened climate change vulnerability, climate mitigation and adaptation actions are rare in the cities of developing countries. Cities are overwhelmed with worsening congestion, air pollution, crime, waste management, and unemployment problems. Lack of resources and capacity constraints are other factors that discourage cities from embarking on climate change mitigation and adaptation pathways. Given the multitude of problems faced, there is simply no appetite for stand-alone urban climate change mitigation and adaptation policies and programmes. Urban mitigation and adaptation goals will have to be achieved as co-benefits of interventions targeted at solving pressing urban problems and challenges. The paper identifies administratively simple urban interventions that can help cities solve some of their pressing service delivery and urban environmental problems, while simultaneously mitigating rising urban GHG emissions and vulnerability to climate change.     

The adoption of a Climate Disaster Resilience Index in Chennai,India

Results derived from the Climate Disaster Resilience Index (CDRI)—consisting of five dimensions (economic, institutional, natural, physical, and social), 25 parameters, and 125 variables—reflect the abilities of people and institutions to respond to potential climate‐related disasters in Chennai, India. The findings of this assessment, applied in the 10 administrative zones of the city, reveal that communities living in the northern and older parts of Chennai have lower overall resilience as compared to the flourishing areas (vis‐à‐vis economic growth and population) along the urban fringes. The higher resilience of communities along the urban fringes suggests that urbanisation may not necessarily lead to a deterioration of basic urban services, such as electricity, housing, and water. This indication is confirmed by a strong statistical correlation between physical resilience and population growth in Chennai. The identification of the resilience of different urban areas of Chennai has the potential to support future planning decisions on the city's scheduled expansion.     

Nitrogen budget and its environmental loading in an urban ecosystem with the rapid urbanisation of China

A detailed nitrogen (N) budget has been developed for an urban ecosystem based on the method of material flow analysis. How increased human activity and urbanisation influences N cycling have also been analysed. Total N input and output in the urban ecosystem of Zhengzhou City (ZUE) was calculated at 304.8?Gg was 275.3?Gg year^?1, resulting in an N accumulation of 29.5?Gg year^?1. Industry and human life activities, which respectively accounted for 43.8% and 34.2% of total N inputs and 52.6% and 29.1% of total N outputs, were the core of N flow in the urban ecosystem. Humans activities mediated more than 98% N inputs into the ZUE, 73.2% of N was released into the atmosphere and 11.7% into hydrosphere. This very large volume of released N could contribute to regional problems. High energy consumption, insufficient wastewater treatment facility practices, and low N use efficiency are the primary causes of pollution. The major challenge ahead for the urban ecosystem is how to manage high-intensity N pollutant inputs to the urban ecosystems coupled with incomplete N cycling and removal. Based on the analysis of the N budget and loading, this study also proposes an N management strategy for the ZUE.     

Urbanisation and flood vulnerability in the peri-urban interface of Mexico City

Chronic flooding in the Chalco valley, state of Mexico, Mexico, is the outcome of past and present socio‐environmental changes which have taken place in Mexico City's south‐eastern peri‐urban interface. This flooding is the result of a complex interaction between urbanisation in an ex‐lacustrine area, permanent ecological deterioration and ground subsidence, poor sanitation and inadequate policy responses. Far from solving the flooding problem, short‐term policy responses have created increasingly unsafe conditions for current residents. A socio‐historical analysis of disasters reveals the importance of taking into consideration particular social actors and institutions in hazard generation and flood vulnerability over time. This paper analyses three aspects of this flooding: first, the importance of approaching floods from a socio‐historical perspective; second, the relation between urbanisation, former policies and flood risk generation; and third, current policy responses to and the failure in the risk management of La Compañía Canal.     

城市热力景观格局季节变化特征分析及其应用

热岛效应是城市发展过程中所产生的特有的环境问题,已经成为一种城市环境公害,对其形成和演变规律的研究有助于人们提出有效的应对措施。热力景观是分析城市热岛空间格局的一种新方法。以厦门为研究对象,利用2002年1、2、3、8、12月的Landsat ETM＋影像数据进行地表温度反演,在此基础上使用景观格局指数分析厦门城市热力景观格局的季节变化特征。结果表明：厦门城市热岛在夏季（8月）最强,春秋次之,冬季（1月）最弱。该变化特征是城市地表吸收太阳辐射和人为废热排放随季节变化的共同结果。应用该方法对2002年厦门热污染源进行调查,发现当年共有热污染源26个,其中工业热污染源18个。该研究可为环保、能源等部门乃至于整个城市的规划管理提供有力的决策依据。     

Analysis of the spatio-temporal and semantic aspects of land-cover/use change dynamics 1991–2001 in Albania at national and district levels

In the turmoil of a rapidly changing economy the Albanian government needs accurate and timely information for management of their natural resources and formulation of land-use policies. The transformation of the forestry sector has required major changes in the legal, regulatory and management framework. The World Bank financed Albanian National Forest Inventory project provides an analysis of spatially explicit land-cover/use change dynamics in the period 1991–2001 using the FAO/UNEP Land Cover Classification System for codification of classes, satellite remote sensing and field survey for data collection and elements of the object-oriented geo-database approach to handle changes as an evolution of land-cover/use objects, i.e. polygons, over time to facilitate change dynamics analysis.Analysis results at national level show the trend of natural resources depletion in the form of modifications and conversions that lead to a gradual shift from land-cover/use types with a tree cover to less dense tree covers or even a complete removal of trees. Policy failure (e.g., corruption, lack of law enforcement) is seen as the underlying cause. Another major trend is urbanisation of areas near large urban centres that change urban-rural linkages. Furthermore, after privatisation agricultural areas increased in the hills where environmental effects may be detrimental, while prime agricultural land in the plains is lost to urbanisation.At district level, the local variability of spatially explicit land-cover/use changes shows different types of natural resources depletion. The distribution of changes indicates a regional prevalence, thus a decentralised approach to the natural resources management could be advocated.     

Explaining land management decisions to understand local landscape functions and change. Some insights from Tuscany

Structural changes in agriculture and urbanisation affect land management regimes and local landscape functions. Studying the new functions of land is as relevant as the owners' land management decisions, the replacement of farming with different activities and land uses may impact not only the local landscape's functions but also, in the long run, its structure and the environment. Drawing on a detailed case study in Tuscany based on qualitative interviews with landowners and on the understanding of the socio-economic context, this article analyses landowners' attitudes towards land property and farming in relation to individual motives as well as to local and supra-local contexts. Five relational typologies of landowners are identified: pure farmers, amenity farmers, land developers, land-with-house owners and house-with-land owners. Diverse trends – such as particular farmers’ attitudes towards land development, or the emerging role of non-professional farmers in land management – are found to raise challenges related to rural land planning and management.     

Effects of land use on water quality of two high-altitude lakes and catchments in Yunnan Province,China

SUMMARY

Reclaiming farmland from lakes in China in the 1950s damaged the water quality of many lakes. Tremendous efforts have been made since the late 1990s to restore vegetation around the damaged lakes. This paper examines water quality of Fuxian and Qilu Lakes and land-use characteristics within the two catchments in the high-altitude area of Yunnan Province, China. Landsat TM data acquired in 1989, 1994, 1999 and 2005 were used to extract land use and land cover (LULC) information. Measurements of five water quality indices (WQIs), BOD, COD, pH, TN and TP, for the same period of time were examined. The results showed that the area of residential and forest/shrub increased, whereas that of cropland and barren land decreased from 1989 to 2005 in both catchments. Qilu Lake was much more polluted than Fuxian Lake, and pollution worsened over time for both lakes. The differences in water quality between the two lakes were caused by differences in LULC composition and continued degradation in water quality was caused by intensive farming and urban sprawl. Unless the landscape is converted back to its pre-1950 composition and structure, water quality in both lakes cannot be significantly improved and will continue to threaten sustainable development in the region.     

Can the 2050 zero land take objective of the EU be reliably monitored? A comparative study

The European Union has defined an ambitious objective for the future concerning sustainable land use to stop the process of land take by 2050. But can this objective be reliably monitored? In this paper, which is based on the case study of Luxembourg and the neighbouring regions, we show that the tools that are used to monitor land-take produce different results that prevent from comparing the figures from one region to another. Moreover, a comparison of the strategic documents related to land use in this cross-border region shows that land-use policies are the product of very different contexts and relationships towards land as a resource, which need to be addressed with tailored strategies.