Climate Changes and the Impact on Urban Development

Klimatske promjene, vidljive kroz niz pojava, predstavljaju globalni, rastući izazov s prostorno različitim višestrukim utjecajima. Cilj rada je analizirati utjecaje klimatskih promjena na urbani razvoj, odnosno istražiti potrebe i mogućnosti prilagodbe urbanih područja na klimatske promjene. Obrađuju se poglavlja koja obuhvaćaju uzroke, dokaze i izazove klimatskih promjena, prikazuje se utjecaj klimatskih promjena u Hrvatskoj s naglaskom na ranjiva područja, a nakon toga slijedi detaljniji prikaz analize uloge gradova u prilagodbi klimatskim promjenama, opis strategija prilagodbe klimatskim promjenama na odabranim primjerima u Hrvatskoj te prikaz rezultata provedenog anketiranja o utjecaju klimatskih promjena na urbani razvoj. Anketiranjem se detaljnije nastojalo istražiti poznavanje utjecaja klimatskih promjena, svijest o mogućim posljedicama i poveznica s urbanim razvojem. Klimatske promjene je nemoguće izbjeći, ali je moguće dijelom spriječiti ili ublažiti posljedice. U radu je dokazano da gradovi imaju mogućnosti djelovati na urbanim područjima kako bi učinci smanjenja negativnih utjecaja klimatskih promjena bili što veći. Gradovi razvijaju strategije kojima nastoje ublažiti ili prilagoditi se postojećim klimatskim promjenama, što je jednim dijelom i posljedica nužnosti. Osim toga, provedba urbanih projekata doprinosi sprječavanju posljedica klimatskih promjena. Treba djelovati danas kako bi sutra stanovnici živjeli bolje te kako bi urbana područja i dalje predstavljala privlačne sredine. Na temelju anketiranja može se zaključiti kako je potrebno detaljnije informiranje o klimatskim promjenama i mogućnostima poticanja promjena na nižim razinama upravljanja, iako se svijest o uzrocima i posljedicama klimatskih promjena sve više razvija.Climate change effects, seen though various aspects, represent global, growing challenge with different spatial impacts. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the impacts of climate change on urban development, that is to investigate the needs and opportunities to adapt to climate change in urban areas. Different chapters that cover sources, evidences and challenges of climate change are presented, followed by the explanation of the impact of climate change in Croatia, with a highlight on vulnerable areas. After that, the analysis on the role of cities in adaptation to climate change is shown, with the description of the climate change adaptation strategies with the chosen examples in Croatia and with the presentation of the results of the survey research that deals with the impact of the climate change on urban development. Survey method was applied to investigate in more detail the understanding of the climate change impacts, awareness of the possible consequences as well as the connection between climate change and urban development. It is impossible to avoid climate change, but it is possible to partly prevent or mitigate the consequences. This study has proven that cities have the opportunity to implement solutions in urban areas in order to produce more successful results in reducing unfavourable impacts of the climate change. Cities create strategies that can mitigate or adapt to climate change. Partly, this arises from the need. Besides, the implementation of urban projects can contribute to prevention of the climate change consequences. It is necessary to act today for the better future and to assure that the urban areas continue to be attractive centres. Based on the results of the performed survey, it can be concluded that it is necessary to inform about climate changes and opportunities to encourage changes on lower levels of governance, even though the awareness about the sources and consequences of the climate change is more and more developing