Climate change and urbanization in the Yangtze River Delta

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD), one of China’s most developed, dynamic, densely populated and concentrated industrial area, is growing into an influential world-class metropolitan area and playing an important role in China’s economic and social development. The formation and the urbanization process of YRD are inseparable from climate change. This paper explores such interrelationship from two perspectives. On one hand, using historic data, we summarized the urbanization process in the YRD, and concluded that climate change has been shaping the Delta and its socioeconomic development. On the other hand, the urbanization process of the Delta has shaped its geography and built environment, which, however, are not adaptable to future climate change. Potential disruptive effects include large flooded land area, flood disasters, production and energy inefficiency, and other environmental threats. It is imperative to adopt policies and programs to mitigate and adapt to climate change in the fast urbanization process.

► Climate change has been shaping the YRD and its socioeconomic development.
► The urbanization process of the delta has contributed to climate change.
► The YRD's built environment is unadaptable to future climate change.