2023-09-30 08:31:00
The future belongs to the cities. There’s a lot of life here – and it’s getting bigger and bigger. According to estimates, instead of around 56 percent now, around 70 percent of all people in the world will live in urban regions by 2050. This brings with it many difficulties: in large German cities, which are also experiencing influx, there is a lack of living space and rental prices are rising.
Jan Hauser
Editor in business, responsible for real estate.
Climate change and global warming are bringing other changes to urban areas in particular. Extreme weather events also challenge cities: heavy rain and heat waves can cause both drought and an excess of water more often than is already the case. As a rule, summer temperatures in the city are higher than in the countryside. More areas are sealed and large amounts of rain find it difficult to drain away. Concrete, asphalt or metal heat up. The need for transport and industry reinforces this.
What growth brings with it
On the one hand, cities continue to experience enormous attraction. But on the other hand, life there will be a lot more difficult in the future, as a new study by the FDP-affiliated Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, which the FAZ has previously received, shows. In it, the study authors from the Berlin think tank Adelphi present not only the difficulties in urban areas but also ways in which cities can better adapt to climate change.
The authors have collected examples from cities around the world on how to better deal with heavy rain and heat waves. One comes from Ahmedabad in India: According to forecasts, heat-related deaths are expected to rise sharply here. More than a thousand people have already died during a heat wave. A heat response plan has therefore included a warning system for ten years to inform people when temperatures rise sharply. The program also includes increasing the use of materials on roofs that reflect heat. This should reduce the ambient heat. The goal is: cool roofs on all municipal, commercial and government buildings.
Plant roofs in Bangkok: This is where the rain collects. : Image: Mauritius
In many hot places, the approach to combating the heat includes more green spaces, as the compilation shows. Centenary Park in Bangkok, Thailand is a park with green roofs, artificial wetlands, ponds, small waterfalls and rain retention basins to limit flooding. Rain flows down a slope from the highest point with the green roof of a museum to the retention basin at the end of the park. There is a lot of rainfall here in the rainy season from May to October, but little else. The rainwater can be collected to irrigate the greenery in the dry season. However, the study authors say that the project is small compared to the size of the city. According to expectations, there will be significantly more heavy rain in the Bangkok area. A flood in 2011 killed more than 800 people.
Both precipitation and heavy rain events have also increased in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The risk of flooding is increasing because sea levels are rising. Because of urbanization, there are fewer wetlands in the metropolitan area. The capacity to store water here has decreased significantly. That’s why a project should protect the remaining wetlands. A city park has been redesigned to increase storage options.
Corridors in Medellin: Green spaces are interconnected. : Image: ddp
In Medellín, Colombia, there is a strong heat island effect. Due to sealed soils and narrow buildings, cities are often hotter than their surrounding areas. At times during the day it was seven degrees warmer in Medellín than in the surrounding area. To counteract this, in 2016 the city began building green corridors connecting parks and green spaces. The corridors were later expanded to include shaded pedestrian and bicycle paths. This is said to have reduced the heat island effect by two degrees.
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