Counteracting urban heat island effects in a global climate change scenario

Our cities and urban areas in general are facing many challenges - economic, social, health and environmental. However, the proximity of people, business and services associated with cities also creates opportunities to improve resource efficiency. Indeed, well-designed and well-managed urban settings offer great opportunities for sustainable living; partnership and coordination from the local to the European level can support their improvement. Climate change has the potential to influence all the components in the urban environment and to raise new and complex challenges for the quality of life, health and human biodiversity inside urban areas. Poor urban design can worsen the impacts of climate change. The attention of the European Union to the problems related to UHI is proved by the funding of the transnational cooperation project within the Central Europe Programme “Development and application of mitigation and adaptation strategies and measures for counteracting the global Urban Heat Islands phenomenon” (3CE292P3). This book is on of the main outcome project is coordinated by the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, and involves 17 partners within Central Europe area.