Heat vulnerability and resilience

In 2018, almost 58% of cities worldwide had a high level of exposure to at least one type of natural disaster and more than 80% cities globally were at high mortality risk and highly vulnerable to economic losses. Extreme heat, even without having such observable damage as an earthquake or tsunami, is highly dangerous to a variety of population groups. In 2011 the United Nations stated that the rise in temperature will result in more frequent heatwaves. And already in 2019 two especially devastating heatwaves came to Europe while this 2019 year was the second hottest year on record. To address shocks and stresses caused by climate change, governments and local management are actively working on making cities more sustainable and resilient. The key challenges for urban planners are to understand which people are vulnerable and when, where they are located within an urban area as well as assess how resilient the city is against upcoming threats. While standalone conceptual answers to these questions are present in the literature, there is a need for a high-resolution quantitative assessment of spatio-temporal interplay between vulnerability and resilience.