Publication Abstracts
Mehrotra et al. 2011
Mehrotra, S., , W.D. Solecki, C.E. Natenzon, A. Omojola, R. Folorunsho, and J. Gilbride, 2011: Cities, disasters and climate risk. In Climate Change and Cities: First Assessment Report of the Urban Climate Change Research Network. , W.D. Solecki, S.A. Hammer, and S. Mehrotra, Eds., Cambridge University Press, pp. 15-42.
Cites are central to the climate change challenge, and their position is ever more important as the world's population is becoming increasingly urban. City governments can play an active role in attempting to mitigate climate change, as well as in sheltering their residents from the negative consequences of climate change. In this chapter, we examine the connections between cities and the management of these negative consequences of climate change.
Climate change affects hazard vulnerability, and risk exposure in cities through a variety of direct and indirect relationships. Cities in many ways were first created as a means to more efficiently protect populations from hazards, whether they be physical (e.g., storms, droughts) or social (e.g., war, civil unrest) in origin. The very fact that cities are population centers illustrates the tension that city managers face with respect to hazards. They can be expected to help protect the populations within their cities' borders; while, at the same time, the concentration of population in cities means that when disaster strikes a large number of people could be adversely impacted.
City governments are beginning to put a greater focus on adapting their cities to the inevitable focus of climate change. In its 2007 Fourth Assesment Report (AR4), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that there is a greater than 90 percent change that the average global temperature increase over the last century was primarily caused by human activity. However, in the context of cities, several climate-induced challenges, such as increased flooding potential and its impacts on water supply, are still largely understudied.
Climate change and increased climate variability will alter the environmental baselines of urban locales. Shifts in climate and increased frequency of extreme events have direct impacts on water availability and quality, flooding and drought periodicity, and water demand.
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BibTeX Citation
@inbook{me07100z,
author={Mehrotra, S. and Rosenzweig, C. and Solecki, W. D. and Natenzon, C. E. and Omojola, A. and Folorunsho, R. and Gilbride, J.},
editor={Rosenzweig, C. and Solecki, W. D. and Hammer, S. A. and Mehrotra, S.},
title={Cities, disasters and climate risk},
booktitle={Climate Change and Cities: First Assessment Report of the Urban Climate Change Research Network},
year={2011},
pages={15--42},
publisher={Cambridge University Press},
address={Cambridge, U.K.},
}
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RIS Citation
TY - CHAP ID - me07100z AU - Mehrotra, S. AU - Rosenzweig, C. AU - Solecki, W. D. AU - Natenzon, C. E. AU - Omojola, A. AU - Folorunsho, R. AU - Gilbride, J. ED - Rosenzweig, C. ED - Solecki, W. D. ED - Hammer, S. A. ED - Mehrotra, S. PY - 2011 TI - Cities, disasters and climate risk BT - Climate Change and Cities: First Assessment Report of the Urban Climate Change Research Network SP - 15 EP - 42 PB - Cambridge University Press CY - Cambridge, U.K. ER -
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