Climate Change and Megacities: South Asian Mega-cities are in extreme heat stress

Kumar Biswajit Debnath; David P. Jenkins; Sandhya Patidar; Andrew Peacock; Ben Nathan Bridgens; Helen Mitrani

Climate Change and Megacities: South Asian Mega-cities are in extreme heat stress

Kumar Biswajit Debnath, David P. Jenkins, Sandhya Patidar, Andrew Peacock, Ben Nathan Bridgens, Helen Mitrani

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Abstract

Of 33 Global Megacities, ten are situated in South Asia. Extreme heat waves are becoming an annualphenomenon due to climate change in South Asian megacities. In this study, we evaluated 29 years (1990-2019)of historical data on heat stress in ten selected megacities (existing and prospected) —New Delhi, Dhaka, Mumbai,Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chittagong, and Pune—predominantly in India andBangladesh. We used Heat Index (HI) and Environmental Stress Index (ESI) analysis to evaluate stress andvulnerability. Our results showed that most megacities are already experiencing 'Extreme caution' and 'Danger'levels of heat stress which may lead to heat cramps, exhaustion, stroke, and even death. Furthermore, thefrequency of 'Danger' levels of heat stress and vulnerable level of ESI has increased significantly since 2011 in theselected megacities, which elevated the heat-related vulnerability among the millions of inhabitants.KEYWORDS: Extreme heat, Megacities, South Asia, Climate change, vulnerability.

Original language	English
Publication status	Published - 23 Nov 2022
Event	36th PLEA Conference 2022: Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design - Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile Duration: 23 Nov 2022 → 25 Nov 2022 https://plea2022.org

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Conference	36th PLEA Conference 2022: Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design
Country/Territory	Chile
City	Santiago
Period	23/11/22 → 25/11/22
Internet address	https://plea2022.org

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4B42A08B-0A00-4581-BB8A-FDEB7899BD07Final published version, 1.03 MBLicence: Unspecified

Cite this

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title = "Climate Change and Megacities: South Asian Mega-cities are in extreme heat stress",

abstract = "Of 33 Global Megacities, ten are situated in South Asia. Extreme heat waves are becoming an annualphenomenon due to climate change in South Asian megacities. In this study, we evaluated 29 years (1990-2019)of historical data on heat stress in ten selected megacities (existing and prospected) —New Delhi, Dhaka, Mumbai,Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chittagong, and Pune—predominantly in India andBangladesh. We used Heat Index (HI) and Environmental Stress Index (ESI) analysis to evaluate stress andvulnerability. Our results showed that most megacities are already experiencing 'Extreme caution' and 'Danger'levels of heat stress which may lead to heat cramps, exhaustion, stroke, and even death. Furthermore, thefrequency of 'Danger' levels of heat stress and vulnerable level of ESI has increased significantly since 2011 in theselected megacities, which elevated the heat-related vulnerability among the millions of inhabitants.KEYWORDS: Extreme heat, Megacities, South Asia, Climate change, vulnerability.",

author = "Debnath, {Kumar Biswajit} and Jenkins, {David P.} and Sandhya Patidar and Andrew Peacock and Bridgens, {Ben Nathan} and Helen Mitrani",

year = "2022",

month = nov,

day = "23",

language = "English",

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TY - CONF

T1 - Climate Change and Megacities: South Asian Mega-cities are in extreme heat stress

AU - Debnath, Kumar Biswajit

AU - Jenkins, David P.

AU - Patidar, Sandhya

AU - Peacock, Andrew

AU - Bridgens, Ben Nathan

AU - Mitrani, Helen

PY - 2022/11/23

Y1 - 2022/11/23

N2 - Of 33 Global Megacities, ten are situated in South Asia. Extreme heat waves are becoming an annualphenomenon due to climate change in South Asian megacities. In this study, we evaluated 29 years (1990-2019)of historical data on heat stress in ten selected megacities (existing and prospected) —New Delhi, Dhaka, Mumbai,Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chittagong, and Pune—predominantly in India andBangladesh. We used Heat Index (HI) and Environmental Stress Index (ESI) analysis to evaluate stress andvulnerability. Our results showed that most megacities are already experiencing 'Extreme caution' and 'Danger'levels of heat stress which may lead to heat cramps, exhaustion, stroke, and even death. Furthermore, thefrequency of 'Danger' levels of heat stress and vulnerable level of ESI has increased significantly since 2011 in theselected megacities, which elevated the heat-related vulnerability among the millions of inhabitants.KEYWORDS: Extreme heat, Megacities, South Asia, Climate change, vulnerability.

AB - Of 33 Global Megacities, ten are situated in South Asia. Extreme heat waves are becoming an annualphenomenon due to climate change in South Asian megacities. In this study, we evaluated 29 years (1990-2019)of historical data on heat stress in ten selected megacities (existing and prospected) —New Delhi, Dhaka, Mumbai,Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chittagong, and Pune—predominantly in India andBangladesh. We used Heat Index (HI) and Environmental Stress Index (ESI) analysis to evaluate stress andvulnerability. Our results showed that most megacities are already experiencing 'Extreme caution' and 'Danger'levels of heat stress which may lead to heat cramps, exhaustion, stroke, and even death. Furthermore, thefrequency of 'Danger' levels of heat stress and vulnerable level of ESI has increased significantly since 2011 in theselected megacities, which elevated the heat-related vulnerability among the millions of inhabitants.KEYWORDS: Extreme heat, Megacities, South Asia, Climate change, vulnerability.

M3 - Paper

T2 - 36th PLEA Conference 2022: Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design

Y2 - 23 November 2022 through 25 November 2022

ER -

Climate Change and Megacities: South Asian Mega-cities are in extreme heat stress

Abstract

Conference

UN SDGs

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