Editor's picks | Urban Climate ı The Europe's case

Following to the previous post: Cities and climate change: Are cities prepared for future heat waves? some maps and an interesting report that I just found. These maps are parts of a study directed by the European Environment Agency (EEA), an agency of the European Union.

Related Post: ULGC || Cities and climate change: Are cities prepared for future heat waves?

The title is Urban Adaptation to Climate Change in Europe including interesting analysis and data for a better understanding of environmental constraints. It is a PDF format study that I am currently reading; consequently I will not say more on. It provides some key messages to building an urban environment more resilient to face future challenge: heat waves, urban migration, river and coastal flooding, etc.
With a strong evidence, I warmly recommend this reading.

Suggested article: The European Environment Agency | Urban adaptation to climate change in Europe ı Challenges and opportunities for cities together with supportive national and European policies || n°2/2012

So the EEA provides interesting Europe's maps that would have well-illustrated my previous post. In the previous post, I included an America's map that illustrates the urban climate trends. These map below show the Europe's case.

Heat waves - both a low share of green and blue urban areas and high population densities contribute potentially to the urban heat island in cities | © The European Environment Agency, 2012
> "The map above shows the share of green and blue urban areas per city. The city is defined by its morphological delineation according to urban land use classes which intersects with the core city delineation defined by Urban Audit. Green and blue urban areas have been extracted from the Urban Atlas product, i.e. values for 369 core cities were available. (…) For the map production the values were classified into four classes and presented as coloured dots on the map: green dots correspond to cities with a low share. The background map is a modelled map of the number of combined tropical nights (>20°C) and hot days (>35°C) in the period 2070-2100 (Fischer et al, 2010). It provides an indication, where the probability of heat waves in the future is particular high. A low share of green and blue areas will further increase the heat waves impacts in cities" [ EEA, 2012]

Percentage of the city that would be flooded in case rivers rise 1m | © The European Environment Agency, 2012
> "The map shows the percentage of the city that would be flooded in case water in rivers rises 1m. Only cities with more than 100 000 inhabitants are considered. The city is defined by the part of its morphological delineation according to urban land use classes (UMZ), which intersects with the core city delineation defined by Urban Audit/Urban Atlas. With a digital elevation model, areas below and above a potential water level (1m rise) were identified. That layer was crossed with the city areas. The intersecting areas are the potential urban flood areas." [EEA, 2012]

Urban flooding — impervious surfaces reduce the drainage of rain water and increase the risk for urban flooding | The European Environment Agency, 2012.
>  "[This Map] shows the projected change i the annual number of days with heavy rainfall in 2071-2100 against the reference period (1961-1990). It shows an approximate north-south division with the imaginary division line being the Alps. Projections for regions south of the line show, in general, a decline in the number of days with extreme precipitation of up to five days and more. Most regions north of the line expect an increase, mostly of one to three days. Yet the coastline of Norway as well as Ireland and western United Kingdom and some parts off the Atlantic coast of France can expect an increase of between four and 13 days (Greiving et al. 2011)." [EEA, 2012]

Infrastructure as one determinant | © The European Environment Agency, 2012
> "Different types of infrastructure are also vulnerable to particular impacts of climate change, and a greater variety can help to buffer the impacts of climate change in both the short and long term. Infrastructure is also important in the capacity of a system to cope with sudden impacts of climate change such as extreme weather events. Cities depend on their infrastructures for their safety and well-being. (…) An index at regional level is used for three underlying indicators: the density of the road network, the number of hospital beds, and the water exploitation index. Map 3.5 shows this index, which seems to highlight certain countries and regions, with no evident patterns. It should be noted that data constraints and quality concerns persist here as well." [EEA, 2012] 

Source: European Environment Agency.