🔴 Overheated and ice-cold cities in Europe
This year's #AlfredWegener Price was awarded yesterday to #StefanRahmstorf. As a climate- and ocean researcher, in his award lecture, he illuminated the risk of a shut-down of the #AMOC, the heat pump in the North Atlantic, which is the origin of Europe's moderate and stable climate, and finally, its wealth. This heat pump, so his conclusion based on hundreds of scientific papers, has for sure reduced in speed, and will most likely collapse in the near future. As such, Europe's cities are in real danger of risking a collapse of wealth and social stability.
What should we learn from such a doomsday message - right before the weekend?
Whatever we plan and implement in a participatory way on measures related to make cities more attractive to people, we have to consider rapid shifts in climate, sea level and food availability. Our cities and public space need to be planned robust, resilient and adaptable to a wide range of future scenarios.
Based on his key points, we have to consider the following climate features into city planning and Just Streets:
* While there will be - after more hot climate in the years to come - a dramatic fall in temperature in the North of Europe, the tendency for extreme heat waves in Central and Southern Europe will increase.
* Together with this sudden temperature shift, there is high likeliness of even higher increase in sea-level than current climate models predict, due to more rapid reduction of the Greenland Glacier
* A strong temperature divergence between the extremely cold Northern Europe (and England) and Central/Southern Europe may still lead to sudden influx of very cold air to the South, so that people have to switch between winter jackets and bikini on short warning. (and that's NO fun! Especially when considering our body physiology and short-time adaptability to temperature extremes)
There are at least two climate experts in the Just Streets who are happy to support with advise on how cities can best incorporate such knowledge into street interventions. We can help to make interventions which give multiple benefits: creating spatial justice, active mobility and robustness against a climate crisis which needs a precautionary approach! Examples are related to green space, water beds, urban farming, shade, and the 15-minutes city to enable active mobility.
For all the freeks among the readership, here you can watch Stefan Rahmstorf's speech: https://lnkd.in/geRDB2ke
Regional Client Success Lead at Vertical Staffing Resources
2moLooking forward to it!