Blame it on the urban heat island effect.
"The economic impacts of climate change are almost three times higher in large cities like Los Angeles," reports Emily Guerin.
Guerin is sharing findings of a new study published in Nature Climate Change, titled "A global economic assessment of city policies to reduce climate change impacts."
The effects of climate change are exacerbated by the heat island effect: "a phenomenon in which paved surfaces and buildings absorb and radiate heat causing temperatures in cities to climb as much as 19˚F." According to the study's authors, previous studies "overlooked the fact that cities create their own, hotter climates."
In cities like Los Angeles, that means hotter days, occurring more frequently. "In Los Angeles, the number of days that downtown temperatures break 95 degrees is expected to triple by 2050," writes Gurein.
FULL STORY: Costs of climate change triple in big, hot cities like LA, study finds
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research