20 March 2018
Austrian Environment Agency, Vienna, Austria
Urban Climate Change Adaptation for Austrian Cities: Urban Heat Islands Kickoff Meeting
The overall aim of the ADAPT-UHI project is to provide major improvements in climate change adaptation and mitigation in Austrian cities by developing a tool for the visualization of climate, risk indicators and scenarios.
Linda See, the Principal Investigator of the project, will be leading the project consortium, as well as the decision support, dissemination and project management work packages. IIASA research for the project will include engagement with pilot cities for user requirements, development of the visualization tool, and increased health risk calculations.
ADAPT-UHI is funded by the Austrian Climate Research Fund (ACRP), and led by IIASA. The project partners are Federal Environment Agency Austria (UBA), Central Institution for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) and International Project Management Agency Klagenfurt on Lake Wörthersee GmbH (IPAK).
Urban Heat Islands (UHI) and Austrian Cities
An UHI is an urban area, which is significantly warmer than its surroundings due to land use and cover changes. The UHI affects human health and wellbeing, and heat waves in urban areas have contributed to loss of life. The heat wave in 2003 for example, resulted in 30,000 deaths across Europe. Future predictions for the continent are considerably more severe, with 152,000 people predicted to perish annually between 2071 and 2100 [1].
Large cities in Austria have already investigated the UHI effect and developed possible climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. However, there has been little work undertaken in small to medium sized cities in Austria that are also affected by heat waves in the summer. Therefore, ADAPT-UHI aims to support urban planners in decision making for the development of strategies and action plans for climate change adaptation and mitigation.
[1] Forzieri G, Cescatti A, e Silva FB, Feyen L (2017). Increasing risk over time of weather-related hazards to the European population: a data-driven prognostic study. Lancet Planet Health 1:e200–e208.
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