Cooling the City? A Scientometric Study on Urban Green and Blue Infrastructure and Climate Change-Induced Public Health Effects

Abstract

Climate change causes global effects on multiple levels. The anthropogenic input of greenhouse gases increases the atmospheric mean temperature. It furthermore leads to a higher probability of extreme weather events (e.g., heat waves, floods) and thus strongly impacts the habitats of humans, animals, and plants. Against this background, research and innovation activities are increasingly focusing on potential health-related aspects and feasible adaptation and mitigation strategies. Progressing urbanization and demographic change paired with the climate change-induced heat island effect exposes humans living in urban habitats to increasing health risks. By employing scientometric methods, this scoping study provides a systematic bird’s eye view on the epistemic landscapes of climate change, its health-related effects, and possible technological and nature-based interventions and strategies in order to make urban areas climate proof. Based on a literature corpus consisting of 2614 research articles collected in SCOPUS, we applied network-based analysis and visualization techniques to map the different scientific communities, discourses and their interrelations. From a public health perspective, the results demonstrate the range of either direct or indirect health effects of climate change. Furthermore, the results indicate that a public health-related scientific discourse is converging with an urban planning and building science driven discourse oriented towards urban blue and green infrastructure. We conclude that this development might mirror the socio-political demand to tackle emerging climate change-induced challenges by transgressing disciplinary boundaries.

Urban heat vulnerability: A dynamic assessment using multi-source data in coastal metropolis of Southeast China

“…Xiamen City has coastlines, numerous lakes, and dense river networks. Water bodies not only bring cooling effect to their surroundings ( 67 , 68 ), but also affect the spatial distribution of their surrounding heat vulnerability ( 82 ), which was confirmed in our findings. We found that Maluan Bay, Wuyuan Bay, Yundang Lake and the coast of Xiamen Island were significant low UHV areas, in fact, during our local investigation, we found these areas are also livable areas with beautiful ecological environment in Xiamen City.…”

“…Elevation is the main natural factor influencing the population distribution in China, especially in the eastern part of the country, where the population size at high altitude is small ( 66 ) and consequently the probability of heat exposure is low. Lakes, rivers, coasts, bays are confirmed to have significant cooling effect ( 67 , 68 ), so in this study different distances from these areas were used to reflect differences in the heat susceptibility attributes of the urban system. Combining the characteristics of coastal metropolis, land cover, elevation, water bodies, and coastlines were selected as indicators for measuring urban heat susceptibility.…”

Heat vs. Health: Home Office under a Changing Climate

“…A wide variety of strategies can be implemented for this purpose. They range from integrated and sustainable rainwater management, the broad implementation of various climate-effective nature-based solutions, and the implementation of high-quality urban green spaces to various specifications regarding open space design [36]. Above allfor the microclimatic optimization of the city-specifications regarding albedo, minimum structural thicknesses of substrates, and a minimum area that may not be sealed or built on are important [84].…”

“…Scientists agree that there is an urgent need for action nowadays; the most effective strategy against the urban heat island effect is to enlarge urban green and water areas or to further expand already existing green and blue infrastructure in the private and the public sphere [36,72]. Green and blue infrastructure can support climate change adaptation and mitigation, biodiversity loss, and the promotion of health and well-being simultaneously.…”

“…Not only the routines of the pandemic, but also the climate and biodiversity crisis have negatively affected human health, in general, and, especially, mental health [22]. Research has proved, for example, that mental health and species diversity are positively related: Street tree planting in residential areas of cities may be a nature-based solution to reduce the risk of depression, with the added benefits of also addressing climate change and biodiversity loss [36,37]. Up until now, aspects related to climate change and biodiversity loss are often lacking in public and scientific debates of urban planners and health professionals.…”