Climate Change And Cities: A Review On The Impacts And Policy Responses

Climate change is one of the most important challenges of our time. It is likely to bring devastating impacts on human life and settlements. Climate change refers to changes in average climatic conditions of the earth due to the increase in average temperatures of the atmosphere (Figure 1). Although natural processes like solar activity and volcanic eruptions can cause changes in climatic conditions it is accepted that current climate change is caused by anthropogenic processes (Deri and Alam, 2008; IPCC, 2007a). There is a consensus that increased burning of fossil fuels and destruction of natural ecosystems, which were intensified after the industrial revolution (Figure 2), are major drivers of ongoing global warming and climate change (Costello et al., 2009).