Written by Dr. Negin Nazarian, Professor Melissa Hart, Dr. Mathew Lipson, Dr. Jiachen Lu, and Professor Andy Pitman
Summary
This briefing note highlights the critical connection between urbanisation and climate change, emphasising how cities amplify risks like heat, flooding, and poor air quality. It calls for integrating climate science into policy and planning to build more resilient and sustainable cities that can adapt to changing climates.
Urbanisation significantly alters natural landscapes, replacing them with heat-absorbing materials and impermeable surfaces, which exacerbate environmental impacts. Factors like geography, topography, and proximity to water also shape how cities experience climate challenges, which is why tailored solutions are needed.
Cities are not just places to live but complex hubs of economy, culture, and politics. While climate has historically played a significant role in shaping urban environments, its influence has diminished with modern design and technology. It’s time to restore that balance.
What is urban climatology?
Urban climatology involves understanding the compounding impacts of urbanisation and climate change on our local weather and climate.
Cities represent one of the most extreme cases of human modification of our natural landscapes. Urbanisation replaces the natural environment with dense concentrations of pavement, buildings, and other materials that absorb and retain heat, while also increasing impermeable surfaces that cannot retain water. Urbanisation causes substantial environmental impacts as shown in the figure below, compared to the rural surroundings.
An understanding of urban climates requires an appreciation of the urban system as well as the geographical characteristics such as the latitude (e.g.tropical or alpine), topography (e.g. mountainous or flat plains) and distance
to large water bodies (e.g. proximity to the sea). The same city design in a different geographic location will have a different urban climate.
