A growing fraction of the global and Swiss population lives in cities, where effects of climate change are already felt hard. They suffer from heatwaves, which are exacerbated due to the urban heat island effect, from air pollution and from heavy precipitation events, among others. Cities both drive climate change and suffer its consequences, hence urban policies must address adaptation as much as mitigation. The cluster “Climate, Cities and Health” is concerned with a wide range of topics from urban heat and air pollution and their impacts on health to governance issues. Its research contributes to the development of adaptation measures to cool buildings, to cool the city, to protect the vulnerable population from the impacts of heat and environmental pollution, and to protect cities from effects of heavy precipitation events (“Schwammstadt”).
