Present day and future urban cooling enabled by integrated water management
The process of urbanisation has increased public health risks due to urban heat, risks that will be further exacerbated in future decades by climate change. However, the growing adoption of integrated water management (IWM) practices (coordinated stormwater management of water, land, and resources)...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2024-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Sustainable Cities |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1337449/full |
| _version_ | 1797224058177191936 |
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| author | Kerry A. Nice Matthias Demuzere Andrew M. Coutts Nigel Tapper |
| author_facet | Kerry A. Nice Matthias Demuzere Andrew M. Coutts Nigel Tapper |
| author_sort | Kerry A. Nice |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The process of urbanisation has increased public health risks due to urban heat, risks that will be further exacerbated in future decades by climate change. However, the growing adoption of integrated water management (IWM) practices (coordinated stormwater management of water, land, and resources) provides an opportunity to support urban heat amelioration through water supply provision and irrigated and vegetated infrastructure that can provide cooling benefits. This study examines the thermal impacts of future implementations of IWM for nine Australian cities based on a review of Government policy documents in the present and over two future time frames (2030 and 2050) under different greenhouse gas emission scenarios (SSPs 1.2-6, 3.7-0 and 5.8-5). Statistical analysis of the future climate data using historical data shows that future warming is nuanced, with changes variable in both time and place, and with extremes becoming more pronounced in future. We have developed a unique approach to morph the future climate projections onto historical data (derived from the ERA5 Reanalysis product) for the 2010-2020 period. Additionally, we use locally appropriate Local Climate Zones (LCZs) for Australian cities, resulting from a holistic and global approach that is widely adopted by the urban climate modelling community. We developed scenarios for business-as-usual as well as implementation of moderate and high levels of IWM across each of the Australian LCZs and modelled them using TARGET (The Air temperature Response to Green infrastructure Evaluation Tool). Results generated at the LCZ level are aggregated to Australian statistical areas (SA4, the largest sub-city area) and city-wide levels. The thermal impacts associated with the various degrees of IWM were marked and geographically differentiated, depending on the climatic characteristics of the various cities. For the current climate, high IWM intervention provided reductions in annual mean daily maximum temperature ranging from -0.77°C in Darwin, up to -1.86°C in Perth. Generally, the drier southern cities of Sydney, Canberra, Albury, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth produced the greatest thermal response to implementation of IWM and the more tropical cities with higher rainfalls the least response. For some southern cities cooling was > -3.0°C at the time of maximum summer temperatures. Interestingly high levels of IWM in winter produced modest warming of minimum overnight temperatures, especially for the cooler southern cities. The cooling benefits of IWM were seen across all future climate scenarios and are a real opportunity to offset-projected temperature increases resulting from climate change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T13:47:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5cabdfea86e245bf8431aca25c617b35 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2624-9634 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T13:47:05Z |
| publishDate | 2024-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Sustainable Cities |
| spelling | doaj.art-5cabdfea86e245bf8431aca25c617b352024-04-04T05:09:41ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sustainable Cities2624-96342024-04-01610.3389/frsc.2024.13374491337449Present day and future urban cooling enabled by integrated water managementKerry A. Nice0Matthias Demuzere1Andrew M. Coutts2Nigel Tapper3Transport, Health, and Urban Systems Research Lab, Faculty of Architecture, Building, and Planning, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, AustraliaB-Kode, Ghent, BelgiumSchool of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, AustraliaSchool of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, AustraliaThe process of urbanisation has increased public health risks due to urban heat, risks that will be further exacerbated in future decades by climate change. However, the growing adoption of integrated water management (IWM) practices (coordinated stormwater management of water, land, and resources) provides an opportunity to support urban heat amelioration through water supply provision and irrigated and vegetated infrastructure that can provide cooling benefits. This study examines the thermal impacts of future implementations of IWM for nine Australian cities based on a review of Government policy documents in the present and over two future time frames (2030 and 2050) under different greenhouse gas emission scenarios (SSPs 1.2-6, 3.7-0 and 5.8-5). Statistical analysis of the future climate data using historical data shows that future warming is nuanced, with changes variable in both time and place, and with extremes becoming more pronounced in future. We have developed a unique approach to morph the future climate projections onto historical data (derived from the ERA5 Reanalysis product) for the 2010-2020 period. Additionally, we use locally appropriate Local Climate Zones (LCZs) for Australian cities, resulting from a holistic and global approach that is widely adopted by the urban climate modelling community. We developed scenarios for business-as-usual as well as implementation of moderate and high levels of IWM across each of the Australian LCZs and modelled them using TARGET (The Air temperature Response to Green infrastructure Evaluation Tool). Results generated at the LCZ level are aggregated to Australian statistical areas (SA4, the largest sub-city area) and city-wide levels. The thermal impacts associated with the various degrees of IWM were marked and geographically differentiated, depending on the climatic characteristics of the various cities. For the current climate, high IWM intervention provided reductions in annual mean daily maximum temperature ranging from -0.77°C in Darwin, up to -1.86°C in Perth. Generally, the drier southern cities of Sydney, Canberra, Albury, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth produced the greatest thermal response to implementation of IWM and the more tropical cities with higher rainfalls the least response. For some southern cities cooling was > -3.0°C at the time of maximum summer temperatures. Interestingly high levels of IWM in winter produced modest warming of minimum overnight temperatures, especially for the cooler southern cities. The cooling benefits of IWM were seen across all future climate scenarios and are a real opportunity to offset-projected temperature increases resulting from climate change.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1337449/fullintegrated water managementclimate changeTARGETLocal Climate Zonesclimate adaptation strategiescooling benefits |
| spellingShingle | Kerry A. Nice Matthias Demuzere Andrew M. Coutts Nigel Tapper Present day and future urban cooling enabled by integrated water management Frontiers in Sustainable Cities integrated water management climate change TARGET Local Climate Zones climate adaptation strategies cooling benefits |
| title | Present day and future urban cooling enabled by integrated water management |
| title_full | Present day and future urban cooling enabled by integrated water management |
| title_fullStr | Present day and future urban cooling enabled by integrated water management |
| title_full_unstemmed | Present day and future urban cooling enabled by integrated water management |
| title_short | Present day and future urban cooling enabled by integrated water management |
| title_sort | present day and future urban cooling enabled by integrated water management |
| topic | integrated water management climate change TARGET Local Climate Zones climate adaptation strategies cooling benefits |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1337449/full |
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