Counteracting Urban Heat Island Effects in a Global Climate Change Scenario

Urban heat islands are a new type of microclimatic phenomenon that causes a significant increase in the temperature of cities compared to surrounding areas. The phenomenon has been enforced by the current trend towards climate change. Although experts consider urban heat islands an urgent European Union public health concern, there are too few policies that address it. The EU carried out a project to learn more about this phenomenon through pilot initiatives. The pilots included feasibility studies and strategies for appropriately altering planning rules and governance to tackle the problem of urban heat islands. The pilots were carried out in eight metropolitan areas: Bologna/Modena, Budapest, Ljubljana, Lodz, Prague, Stuttgart, Venice/Padova, and Vienna. The feasibility studies carried out in these pilot areas focused on the specific morphology of EU urban areas, which are often characterised by the presence of historical old towns.

Francesco Musco, Francesco Musco (1973), architect and urban planner, PhD in Analysis and Governance of Sustainable Development (Ca’ Foscari, Venice), Associate professor in Urban and Regional Planning at the Department of Design and Planning in Complex Environment, University Iuav of Venice. Currently teaches “Environmental Planning”, “Territorial Design for Climate Change” and “Urban Design”. Dean of the EU Erasmus Mundus Master Course on MSP Maritime Spatial Planning (2013-2019). Member of the academic board of the European Master in Planning and policies for the City, Environment and Landscape (www.iuav.it/cap) and of PhD program in “Planning and public policies for the territory”. Supporter of a multidisciplinary approach to city and spatial planning, during the last years he finalized his research activity to the relationship between planning and sustainability, with particular attention to the implementation of bottom-up public policies to define sustainable development in local contexts. He is responsible of international agreements of scientific collaboration with Drexel University (Philadelphia, US), John Hopkins University (Baltimore, US), University of Reading (UK), University of Seville (ES), Future University (Khartum, Sudan). Scientific coordinator of several projects granted by competitive bids, among these:

• ·         City Action Plans in Climate Adaptation: a Global Comparative Analysis (2011) (Santander Foundation, Madrid)
  
• ·         Naterg - Developing with Nature (EU South East Europe Program) (2009-2011)
  
• ·         UHI Development and application of mitigation and adaptation strategies and measures for counteracting the global Urban Heat Islands phenomenon in climate change scenario” (EU Central Europe Program) (2011- 2014);
  
• ·         Sustainable development and new asset of territorial planning in the wetland area Humedal de Mantequilla” (2012-2015), (UNDP and Veneto Region);
  
• ·         ADRIPLAN (2013-2015) Adriatic Ionian Maritime Spatial Planning (EU DG Mare)
  
• ·         URBAN_Wins (2015-2018) H2020 Waste 2015 6-b (EU Horizon 2020)
  

Member of AESOP Association of European School of Planning.

prof. Francesco Musco

Iuav University of Venice

S. Croce 1957

30135 Venice (Italy)

francesco.musco@iuav.it