Potential climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in an urban context

Most of the people in Belgium live in urbanised areas and this is where climate change will be most apparent in everyday life. While urban areas will generally experience the same exposures to climate change as their surrounding natural regions, the urban setting can alter this as well and enhance potential local impacts. Cities distinguish themselves from their natural surroundings in terms of thermal and radiative characteristics, but they also have a reduced soil-water capacity and increased anthropogenic heat release. The increase of impervious areas combined with excessive amounts of rain water can lead to an increase in floods while the high amount of artificial surfaces stores heat and cause raised temperatures in cities compared to the surrounding region. Additionally, these urban characteristics result in micro-scale meteorological features such as the urban heat island, reduced wind speed and the city-breeze circulation. Some of these effects have a considerable impact on human health in cities when for example the nocturnal cooling is reduced during heat waves or when air quality is affected during smog episodes. Nevertheless, the challenges of climate change also provide opportunities for cities and regions to implement innovative solutions alongside traditional measures. In this respect, urban green infrastructure combined with water sensitive urban design can play an important role in both climate mitigation and adaptation. Green urban infrastructure has been regarded as beneficial, e.g. by balancing water flows, providing thermal comfort. This presentation outlines some of the existing evidence on the contribution of green spaces to climate change mitigation and adaptation services, synthesized via the concept of ecosystem services and benefits. It's relevance is shown on three spatial scales (i.e. city, neighborhood and site specific scales) while reports are made on co-benefits and trade-offs between the various services. Finally, some examples are given from around the globe on how the provision of green urban infrastructure services can play a role in an improved environmental management of urban areas.status: publishe