“So cities need to do two things: reduce carbon emissions and become more resilient. “There is no way we can make any city durable enough to withstand climate change and the trajectory we’re on,” he says. David Hsu, Associate Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning at MIT, reckons that future-proofing urban areas involves two tasks – making cities tougher, but making them less costly to the environment too. Making cities less vulnerable is a complicated business. Cities need to reduce carbon emissions and become more resilient Therefore, the subject of resilience is becoming a regular talking point among policymakers, urbanists and citizens. Today that proportion has climbed to 56%. In 1950, just 30% of the people lived in cities, according to UN figures. Meanwhile, cities themselves house a greater proportion of the world population. It’s getting worse, with 18 incidents occurring in the first six months of 2021. According to official figures, 22 individual events each caused around USD 1 billion worth of damage. For instance, 2020 saw more climate and weather disasters than any other year in the US.
The proportion of people who have experienced these sorts of things is going up. In recent years it has become clearer that urban areas are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events, ranging from floods and heatwaves to earthquakes and tsunamis. 56% of the world population live in cities, while urban areas are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events. That is, making cities more resilient to climate disasters. Pledges made to end deforestation, cut emissions and electrify transport are to be applauded, but the conference alighted on one area that must be a focus of policymakers in the immediate future. Following an inconclusive end to proceedings at COP26, many are questioning what comes next.
0 kommentar(er)
