Urban Climate and Heat Stress in mid-latitude cities in view of climate change - driving forces, mitigation and adaptation
A research team consisting of climatologists, geographers, urban planners, hydrologists, medical doctors, building engineers, social and political scientists as well as architects from Berlin's Universities and PIK received funding to investigate the effects of climate change on mid-latitude cities, particularly on Berlin. The lead scientist is Prof. Dr. Dieter Scherer from the Technical University Berlin. Prof. Friedrich Gerstengarbe and Dr. Susanne Grossman-Clarke (RD2) are PIK members of the team. Their task will be to provide high resolution climate scenarios for Berlin and other cities by means of downscaling of global climate model output to urban scales. In addition they will investigate the feedback of urban development scenarios on Berlin's climate.
The goal of the interdisciplinary research team is to develop and evaluate potential methods for the adaptation and mitigation of increasing heat stress in mid-latitude cities. Therefore processes that relate urban climate change, demographic and economical development, indoor climate and their effects on vulnerable people are analyzed. Scenario-based projections of future heat-stress hazards considering potential urban climate change and urban development paths will be developed for Berlin. The implementation of actions requires in-depth knowledge of social and political constellations and actors influencing urban development. These constellations are investigated by the research group in order to enable the implementation of effective and efficient actions.
