TY - JOUR
T1 - A conceptual framework for environmental risk and social vulnerability assessment in complex urban settings
AU - Karimi, Maryam
AU - Nazari, Rouzbeh
AU - Dutova, Daria
AU - Khanbilvardi, Reza
AU - Ghandehari, Masoud
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by NOAA grant NA11SEC481004 to the Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology (CREST) Institute at the City College of New York, and by NOAA Regional Integrated Science Assessment (RISA) award #NA10OAR4310212 to the Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN) . The authors gratefully acknowledge data and imagery made available for fair use by NYC MetNet, the National Building Statistics Database, the US Geological Survey, and Google Earth.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2018/12
Y1 - 2018/12
N2 - High numbers of weather-related mortalities are associated with extreme heat events in the United States. Satellite data confirms that urbanization leads to higher temperatures within microclimates and formation of heat pockets that are linked to higher risks of heat related illnesses and heat stroke. The goal of this study was to examine the influence of different surface types on the impact of UHI by looking at physical properties of the urban system through a framework to formulate risk and social vulnerabilities. A conceptual model was developed using data from Landsat, department of building, U.S. census and USGS. The factors of interest include people, environment, and building/infrastructure. This model quantifies risk as a function of temperature and physical properties of the surrounding environment. Results show, neighborhoods of Manhattan, Queens and Bronx are at the highest risk of social and environmental vulnerability and should be targeted for policy changes, implementation of green infrastructures and vegetation coverage to counteract the heating effects. Neighborhoods which need to be targeted for urban planning due to high environmental risk are Harlem, Upper Manhattan, East Harlem, Elmhurst, Jamaica, Ridgewood, Flatbush, University height and Woodlawn.
AB - High numbers of weather-related mortalities are associated with extreme heat events in the United States. Satellite data confirms that urbanization leads to higher temperatures within microclimates and formation of heat pockets that are linked to higher risks of heat related illnesses and heat stroke. The goal of this study was to examine the influence of different surface types on the impact of UHI by looking at physical properties of the urban system through a framework to formulate risk and social vulnerabilities. A conceptual model was developed using data from Landsat, department of building, U.S. census and USGS. The factors of interest include people, environment, and building/infrastructure. This model quantifies risk as a function of temperature and physical properties of the surrounding environment. Results show, neighborhoods of Manhattan, Queens and Bronx are at the highest risk of social and environmental vulnerability and should be targeted for policy changes, implementation of green infrastructures and vegetation coverage to counteract the heating effects. Neighborhoods which need to be targeted for urban planning due to high environmental risk are Harlem, Upper Manhattan, East Harlem, Elmhurst, Jamaica, Ridgewood, Flatbush, University height and Woodlawn.
KW - Environmental risk
KW - Human health risk assessment
KW - New York City
KW - Social vulnerability
KW - Urban Heat Island conceptual model
KW - Urban planning
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U2 - 10.1016/j.uclim.2018.08.005
DO - 10.1016/j.uclim.2018.08.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85053055953
SN - 2212-0955
VL - 26
SP - 161
EP - 173
JO - Urban Climate
JF - Urban Climate
ER -