Environmental risks of cities in the European Region: Analyses of the Sustainable Healthy Urban Environments (SHUE) database
2017
Introduction: In an increasingly urbanized
world, cities are a key focus for action on
health and sustainability. The Sustainable
Healthy Urban Environments (SHUE) project
aims to provide a shared information
resource to support such action. Its aim
is to test the feasibility and methods of
assembling data about the characteristics
of a globally distributed sample of cities and
the populations within them for comparative
analyses, and to use such data to assess how
policies may contribute to sustainable urban
development and human health.
Methods: As a first illustration of the
database, we present analyses of selected
parameters on climate change, air pollution
and flood risk for 64 cities in the WHO
European Region.
Results: Under a high greenhouse gas
emissions trajectory (RCP8.5), the analyses
suggest damaging temperature rises in
European cities that are among the highest
of any cities in the global database, while air
pollution (PM2.5) levels are appreciably above
the WHO guideline level for all but a handful of
cities. In several areas, these environmental
hazards are compounded by flood risk.
Discussion: Such evidence, though preliminary
and based on limited data, underpins the
need for urgent action on climate change
(adaptation and mitigation) and risks relating
to air pollution and other environmental
hazards.
Keywords:
- Correction
- Source
- Cite
- Save
- Machine Reading By IdeaReader
0
References
3
Citations
NaN
KQI