Climate change and health in cities: impacts of heat and air pollution and potential co-benefits from mitigation and adaptation

Excess morbidity and mortality related to extremely hot weather and poor air quality are found in cities worldwide. This is a major public health concern for cities now and looking toward the future because the interactions of global climate change, urban heat islands, and air pollution are predicted to place increasing health burdens on cities. The proposed mitigation and adaptation strategies in cities’ climate risk management plans may produce health co-benefits by reducing emissions and cooling temperatures through changes in the built environment. There are challenges, however, to implementing the plans and the most widely documented beneficial policy to date is the adoption of heat warning and air quality alert systems to trigger emergency responses.

Research highlights▶ Extreme heat and air pollution increase mortality and morbidity in cities on six continents. ▶ Urban climate change is very likely to intensify harmful interactions between air pollution and extreme heat. ▶ Individual and neighborhood risk factors contribute to climate vulnerability in cities. ▶ Implementation of city risk management plans for climate change will potentially provide health co-benefits to residents.