2015 Conference

Full Presentation Panel

Factors Impacting Urban Energy Use – Micro Climates and Patterns of Habitation

Prof. Yehuda L. Klein, Ph.D.

UHI (Urban Heat Island) is often measured using weather station data. In our work we harness data generated by millions of air conditioning users during peak ambient temperature months. Our examination of urban and suburban energy use in the greater New York area yields a clear pattern of UHI based energy use; summer evening energy use shows a secondary peak in urban areas that persists almost until the dawn. In suburban areas summer night energy use is either flat or drops precipitously.

Patterns of habitation vary from urban to suburban regions. Essential differences include housing density, the size of individual housing units, and percent of impervious surfaces.  Relative to adjacent suburbs, urban areas are more densely populated, with smaller housing units and more impervious surfaces. Per capita income is lower as well.  Since household energy consumption is driven by both per capita income and patterns of habitation, we would expect urban energy consumption to be less relative to suburban areas.  

In this study we examine the relationship of energy use to cooling degree days and population in urban and suburban areas. We consider energy use in the greater New York Metropolitan area to illuminate the impacts of urban density, population, affluence and the built environment on energy use.

As urban areas in the north-east evolve into a continuous urban center stretching from Washington DC to Boston, understanding how different patterns of habitation may correlate to energy use and challenges to electric distribution can mitigate the inevitable infrastructure overload. In this work we strive to identify urban morphology, demographic and energy use relationships that can inform more resilient urban and suburban development.

Beyond city limits: Influencing a global urban agenda

Alisa Zomer

Cities are increasingly acknowledged as important sites for sustainable development at a global scale. Mayors are perceived as having the right mix of authority and flexibility to take action on complex sustainability issues, such as climate change. At the same time, the formalization of a global urban agenda through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Habitat III, and other parallel processes raises fundamental tensions about participation and representation in urban planning decisions. This paper explores the participatory mechanisms available to influence the global urban agenda, with a specific focus on urban environment and climate change issues. Based on evidence from international proceedings, archival analysis, and semi-structured interviews, research findings show that there is a disconnect between advocacy groups and agendas at the international and city-scales. In particular, environment and climate organizations at the international scale are not coordinated with established social and economic urban movements, such as affordable housing, labor, and public health. As a result, emerging tenets of urban sustainability at the global level fail to account for complex social realities and increasing inequality at the city scale. Furthermore, this disconnect distorts lines of accountability and authority by moving urban decision-making beyond city borders and the people who live there. Factors that exacerbate this gap include institutional barriers to entry, including complicated rule proceeding, exclusionary networks, technocratic jargon, and limited capacity and resources. Drawing from environmental governance and urban climate planning theories, this paper identifies challenges and opportunities for the development of a participatory global urban agenda in order to better reflects local priorities in cities.

Urban Responses to Climate Change

Kimberly Lucke

This presentation explores urban responses to challenges produced by a changing climate and how these responses are shared between urban areas through out the United States and internationally. Climate change is an issue that crosses all borders and is therefore of global importance especially in cities because urban areas—known contributors to climate change—are vulnerable to challenges posed by a changing climate. According to the United Nations, urban areas will become hosts to more than 70% of the world’s population by 2050 with the fastest rate of urbanization occurring in the Global South. Climate change threatens the stability and quality of urban living, particularly for vulnerable communities who will be disproportionately affected by expected increased temperatures, increased/decreased precipitation events, increased intensity of storm events, increased occurrence of infectious disease, energy crises and increasingly unstable food systems. Therefore, it is imperative for cities to develop both mitigation and adaptation strategies that effectively deal with current and predicted climate change impacts. I suggest that, given the complexity and uncertainty related to climate change impacts, cities must develop a dialogue to share best practices and resources. I will present a comparative analysis of four United States metropolitan region climate plans, with a specific focus on how effectively local level action is in creating and instituting climate change plans. I will also share my findings on the importance of an international dialogue from my attendance at the European Climate Change Adaptation Conference. This presentation is valuable because climate change is an issue that crosses all borders and yet action to mitigate and adapt to it are hindered by these very borders. Finding a way to communicate mitigation and adaptation strategies with others is essential for the future livability of our densely populated cities.