Transcript Helping Canadian Communities to Reduce the Urban Heat Island

Helping Canadian communities to
reduce the urban heat island effect
September 12, 2016
Livable Cities Forum
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Gregory Richardson, MCIP, RPP
Climate Change and Innovation Bureau
Safe Environments Directorate
Health Canada
INTRODUCTION
Climate Change & Health
Growing Knowledge of Health Impacts
• WHO Climate and Health Country Profiles
(2015)
• Canada in a Changing Climate (2014)
• Climate Change, Health and Equity (2015)
• Climate and Social Stress: Implications for
Security Analysis (2014)
• Climate Change Impacts in the United States
– Human Health (2014)
• Collaborative Change – A Communication
Framework for Climate Change Adaptation and
Food Security (2010)
• IPCC – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
(2014)
• WMO - Climate Services for Health (In Press)
• Cities Adapt to Extreme Heat (In Press)
http://www.rncan.gc.ca/environnement/impacts4
adaptation/evaluations/10030
Health Canada’s Heat Resiliency
Program
Number of extreme hot days projected to increase
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Heat Resiliency Program
Since 2008, Health Canada has been leading an
initiative to enhance community and individual
resiliency to extreme heat events
1.
Heat-Health Science: address critical knowledge gaps.
2.
Clinical training: enable health professionals to better
advise, diagnose and treat their clients.
3.
Heat Alert and Response Systems (HARS): develop
and test alert systems and assess vulnerability.
4.
Heat-health messaging: help to promote awareness
and support personal adaptation.
5.
Partnerships and networks: support information
sharing on adaptation.
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Heat-Health Publications
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/climat/index-eng.php
8
Reducing urban heat in summer through
the design of the built environment
• The term “urban heat island"
describes built up areas that
are hotter than nearby rural
areas.
• Dark surfaces, such as tar
roofs and asphalt roads,
absorb the sun’s rays and
radiate it out, thereby
increasing air and surface
temperatures in urban areas.
• Urban heat islands can
significantly magnify health
impacts during heat waves
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Health Canada’s approach to
supporting communities with
reducing urban heat islands
Health Canada’s UHI Approach
#1. Identifying user needs
#2. Community demonstration projects
#3. Decision-support tools
#4. Research
#5. Outreach and engagement
Source: Richardson et al. (2015). Helping Canadian communities reduce urban heat islands.
Presented at the 52nd International Making Cities Livable Conference, Bristol, UK
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1. Identifying user needs
• Improve monitoring,
surveillance, mapping and
modelling of health impacts and
health-related vulnerabilities
(i.e. heat and air pollution).
• Develop decision-support tools
(e.g. guidance materials, design
guidelines, design standards) to
assist local governments, public
health agencies and design
professionals.
• Identification and modelling of
‘hot zones’ in urban centres.
• Produce high resolution UHI
maps for Canadian
communities.
• Develop and evaluate cooling
materials and technologies in
the Canadian context.
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Windsor
2. Community demonstration
projects
Goal
Work with Canadian communities to support a
collaborative public health-urban planning
approach to reducing heat-health impacts.
Peel Region
Key activities
• Develop maps of the urban heat island effect
and heat-health vulnerability
• Conduct analysis of the local heat island effect
• Produce a report with recommendations to
reduce health vulnerability and improve
thermal comfort
Vancouver
Vancouver
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DEMONSTRATION PROJECT
City of Windsor, Ontario
Insert some photos about
renovated playgrounds
Ottawa
3. Decision-support tools
1. Peel Priority Tree
Planting Index
(Regional Municipality of Peel)
2. UHI parking lot design
guidelines
(Bureau de Normalisation de
Quebec and Ouranos)
3. Heat-Health Mapping
Portal
(Institut national de santé publique
du Québec)
4. Climbing Plants Guide
(Montréal Urban Ecology Centre)
An interactive tool that can be used to prioritize
areas for future tree planting in the Region of Peel
based on a range of environmental, public health
and socio-economic benefits afforded by the
urban forest.
• Executive summary (pdf)
• Final report (pdf, 183p.)
A parking lot design standard that provides
practical guidance on how to mitigate urban heat
island s and reduce storm water run-off volumes.
• French version (pdf)
• Note: English will be published in June 2016.
An online mapping portal (i.e. google maps
interface) with maps of the land surface
temperature and vulnerable populations for all of
southern Quebec.
A practical guide to planting and maintaining
climbing plants.
• Climbing Plants: A Refreshing Solution (PDF)
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4. Research
1. Urban Heat Island Inventory
To conduct an inventory of the
urban heat island-related plans,
policies and actions that have been
implemented in Canada’s 30
largest communities by population.
Richardson. G. & Keizer, P. (forthcoming) Inventory of urban heat
island-related initiatives in 30 Canadian communities. Health Canada.
Ottawa, ON.
2. Syndromic Surveillance System for heat-related illnesses
3. Environmental Heat Monitoring Network
4. Measuring indoor thermal conditions: Montreal Case Study
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5. Outreach and Engagement
1. Cool Communities
Webinar Series to showcase
innovative community-level
initiatives that help reduce
the UHI effect and improve
indoor and outdoor thermal
comfort.
2. Case studies
3. Workshops & Conference Sessions
4. Research reports and articles
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Publications
& case studies
20 case studies
showcasing the
leadership by Canadian
municipalities and
regions to reduce health
risks from extreme heat
events
www.iclr.org
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Recent publications
• Berry, P., & Richardson, G.R.A. (2016).
Approaches for Building Community
Resilience to Extreme Heat. In Extreme
Weather, Health, and Communities. Springer
International Publishing.
• ICLR & Health Canada 2016 (Forthcoming).
Cities Adapt to Extreme Heat. Institute for
Catastrophic Loss Reduction. London, Ontario.
• Richardson. G.R.A. & Keizer, P. (forthcoming)
Inventory of urban heat island-related
initiatives in 30 Canadian communities. Health
Canada. Ottawa, ON.
• Richardson, G.R.A., Storfer, J., & Yagouti, A.
(2015). Helping Canadian communities reduce
urban heat islands. Presented at the 52nd
International Making Cities Livable Conference,
Bristol, UK.
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Lessons learned
• Multidisciplinary steering
committees
• Heat-health vulnerability
maps
• Local champions
• Co-benefits
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Thank you!
Gregory Richardson, MCIP, RPP
Climate Change and Innovation Bureau
[email protected]