Rising vulnerability of compound risk inequality to ageing and extreme heatwave exposure in global cities

Bibliographic Details
Title: Rising vulnerability of compound risk inequality to ageing and extreme heatwave exposure in global cities
Authors: Mingxing Chen, Liangkan Chen, Yuan Zhou, Maogui Hu, Yanpeng Jiang, Dapeng Huang, Yinghua Gong, Yue Xian
Source: npj Urban Sustainability, Vol 3, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2023)
Publisher Information: Nature Portfolio, 2023.
Publication Year: 2023
Collection: LCC:Urbanization. City and country
LCC:City planning
Subject Terms: Urbanization. City and country, HT361-384, City planning, HT165.5-169.9
More Details: Abstract Continued warming trends lead to an increasing risk of exposure to extreme heatwaves, which threaten the health of urban residents, especially the ageing population. Here, we project the spatiotemporal trend of future exposure risk across 9188 global urban settlements between 2020 and 2100 under the shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP) 2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios. Results show that urban heatwave exposure risk increases by 619% and 1740% for SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5, respectively, and by 1642% to 5529% for the elderly. Notably, 69% of the elderly exposure risk comes from middle-income countries, where the increasing trend on the regional average is 1.2 times higher than that of high-income countries. There is an increasing trend towards greater concentration on large cities, especially in low- and lower-middle-income countries. In high-income countries, climate effects contribute 39% to 58% of increasing exposure for elderly individuals, whereas ageing effects play more prominent role in lower-income countries. This emphasizes the disproportionately higher heat-related burden for elderly individuals and inequitable trends in lower income countries. Understanding the vulnerable and priority regions in future heatwave exposure will inform adaptation strategies to support urban climate-resilient development.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2661-8001
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/2661-8001
DOI: 10.1038/s42949-023-00118-9
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/ace481b6053d4f3796126a4ea559f7cb
Accession Number: edsdoj.481b6053d4f3796126a4ea559f7cb
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:26618001
DOI:10.1038/s42949-023-00118-9
Published in:npj Urban Sustainability
Language:English