Pub Date : 2024-10-28DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00142-5
Julie-Anne Boudreau, Lorna De Dios Cruz
Many cities in the world have had important difficulties in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Mexico City has registered one of the highest fatality rates in the world. This can be explained by factors related to the health condition of its population. Here we show that failures in the decision-making process in response to the pandemic played a central role. This paper maps the COVID-19 infrastructure developed across various policy sectors by chronologically analyzing the relationship between governance levels (global, federal, city and borough), the geographical scope of the actions implemented and their sociopolitical impact, as well as the network of actors. We argue that given Mexico’s centralized urban governance system, there was a lack of policy sensibility to proximate scales of governance. This illustrates the importance of a multiscale governance of emergency crises such as COVID-19, particularly in cities of the so-called Global South, characterized by marked sociospatial disparities and intense uses of street and domestic spaces. This study looks at policies and programs chronologically in Mexico City in response to COVID-19 at different governance levels. It found that the crisis management programs did not succeed in establishing a multiscalar decision-making process, and proximate scales such as the domestic space or the neighborhood were ignored.
{"title":"Mexico City’s pandemic urban crisis management lacked a multiscalar approach","authors":"Julie-Anne Boudreau, Lorna De Dios Cruz","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00142-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00142-5","url":null,"abstract":"Many cities in the world have had important difficulties in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Mexico City has registered one of the highest fatality rates in the world. This can be explained by factors related to the health condition of its population. Here we show that failures in the decision-making process in response to the pandemic played a central role. This paper maps the COVID-19 infrastructure developed across various policy sectors by chronologically analyzing the relationship between governance levels (global, federal, city and borough), the geographical scope of the actions implemented and their sociopolitical impact, as well as the network of actors. We argue that given Mexico’s centralized urban governance system, there was a lack of policy sensibility to proximate scales of governance. This illustrates the importance of a multiscale governance of emergency crises such as COVID-19, particularly in cities of the so-called Global South, characterized by marked sociospatial disparities and intense uses of street and domestic spaces. This study looks at policies and programs chronologically in Mexico City in response to COVID-19 at different governance levels. It found that the crisis management programs did not succeed in establishing a multiscalar decision-making process, and proximate scales such as the domestic space or the neighborhood were ignored.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"1 11","pages":"791-798"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142525735","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-28DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00163-0
This year marks the tenth anniversary of World Cities Day, which will take place in Alexandria, Egypt. Declared by the UN General Assembly in 2014, the observance of the 31 October date this year puts the focus on youth and climate actions. And it almost coincides with the twelfth World Urban Forum, hosted in Cairo by UN Habitat in early November, whose focus is on sustainable urbanization.
{"title":"Plural insights for World Cities Day","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00163-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00163-0","url":null,"abstract":"This year marks the tenth anniversary of World Cities Day, which will take place in Alexandria, Egypt. Declared by the UN General Assembly in 2014, the observance of the 31 October date this year puts the focus on youth and climate actions. And it almost coincides with the twelfth World Urban Forum, hosted in Cairo by UN Habitat in early November, whose focus is on sustainable urbanization.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"1 11","pages":"717-717"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-024-00163-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142525710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-25DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00151-4
Alessandro F. Rotta Loria
The ground beneath cities is warming and deforming owing to subsurface urban heat islands. Here, I discuss questions whose answers can help to develop the cross-disciplinary knowledge needed to determine which types of cities, neighborhoods, ground conditions and infrastructure may be most sensitive to this phenomenon.
{"title":"Open questions about the effects of ground warming on infrastructure","authors":"Alessandro F. Rotta Loria","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00151-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00151-4","url":null,"abstract":"The ground beneath cities is warming and deforming owing to subsurface urban heat islands. Here, I discuss questions whose answers can help to develop the cross-disciplinary knowledge needed to determine which types of cities, neighborhoods, ground conditions and infrastructure may be most sensitive to this phenomenon.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"1 12","pages":"804-807"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142762991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-24DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00149-y
An analysis of what happens to post-consumer textiles in nine cities across three continents uncovered remarkable patterns. The growing volumes of textiles bypass waste management systems and are directed towards exports, which externalizes environmental and social costs of the ‘end-of-life’ treatment. Recommendations are made for city governments to improve local circular textile systems.
{"title":"Cities struggle to manage growing volumes of textile waste","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00149-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00149-y","url":null,"abstract":"An analysis of what happens to post-consumer textiles in nine cities across three continents uncovered remarkable patterns. The growing volumes of textiles bypass waste management systems and are directed towards exports, which externalizes environmental and social costs of the ‘end-of-life’ treatment. Recommendations are made for city governments to improve local circular textile systems.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"1 11","pages":"730-731"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142525721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-23DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00140-7
Katia Vladimirova, Yassie Samie, Irene Maldini, Samira Iran, Kirsi Laitala, Claudia E. Henninger, Sarah Ibrahim Alosaimi, Kelly Drennan, Hannah Lam, Ana-Luisa Teixeira, Iva Jestratijevic, Sabine Weber
Wealthy cities are the primary hubs for excessive consumption and disposal of fashion and textiles. As such, cities have the power to support urban transitions toward more circular and sufficient consumption patterns. However, there is a lack of research and data around the topic of post-consumer textiles, which results in lagging policy and action at a city level. Here we aim to address this knowledge gap and offer a deeper understanding of what happens to clothes and textiles after consumers no longer want them, across nine Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development cities. Based on the analysis of policy documents, interviews and scientific and gray literature, the study finds similarities in terms of how the flows are managed across wealthy cities. The findings suggest that directing unwanted textiles toward exports makes the problem of growing post-consumer textile waste, a direct result of fashion overproduction and overconsumption, invisible to the public and to municipalities. This Article offers an important and timely analysis to inform action on post-consumer textiles and proposes a list of actionable policy recommendations for city governments to support the transition toward circular and sufficient urban textile systems. Vast volumes of textile waste are generated by consumers in wealthy cities. Without the knowledge, infrastructure or resources to manage the intensifying material flows of post-consumer textiles locally, textile waste is overwhelmingly exported to the Global South. Vladimirova et al. analyze local ecosystems of actors managing post-consumer textiles in nine Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development cities to understand the power dynamics and systemic lock-ins that are hindering more circular and sufficient use of textile resources and propose policies for municipalities to address this problem.
{"title":"Urban transitions toward sufficiency-oriented circular post-consumer textile economies","authors":"Katia Vladimirova, Yassie Samie, Irene Maldini, Samira Iran, Kirsi Laitala, Claudia E. Henninger, Sarah Ibrahim Alosaimi, Kelly Drennan, Hannah Lam, Ana-Luisa Teixeira, Iva Jestratijevic, Sabine Weber","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00140-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00140-7","url":null,"abstract":"Wealthy cities are the primary hubs for excessive consumption and disposal of fashion and textiles. As such, cities have the power to support urban transitions toward more circular and sufficient consumption patterns. However, there is a lack of research and data around the topic of post-consumer textiles, which results in lagging policy and action at a city level. Here we aim to address this knowledge gap and offer a deeper understanding of what happens to clothes and textiles after consumers no longer want them, across nine Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development cities. Based on the analysis of policy documents, interviews and scientific and gray literature, the study finds similarities in terms of how the flows are managed across wealthy cities. The findings suggest that directing unwanted textiles toward exports makes the problem of growing post-consumer textile waste, a direct result of fashion overproduction and overconsumption, invisible to the public and to municipalities. This Article offers an important and timely analysis to inform action on post-consumer textiles and proposes a list of actionable policy recommendations for city governments to support the transition toward circular and sufficient urban textile systems. Vast volumes of textile waste are generated by consumers in wealthy cities. Without the knowledge, infrastructure or resources to manage the intensifying material flows of post-consumer textiles locally, textile waste is overwhelmingly exported to the Global South. Vladimirova et al. analyze local ecosystems of actors managing post-consumer textiles in nine Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development cities to understand the power dynamics and systemic lock-ins that are hindering more circular and sufficient use of textile resources and propose policies for municipalities to address this problem.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"1 11","pages":"769-779"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142525704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-23DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00150-5
Sean Fox, Levi John Wolf
What makes a place ‘urban’? Here we develop the conceptual case for a simple geo-demographic approach to defining and measuring ‘urbanness’. Through a critical engagement with classic treatises on cities and urbanism, we argue that urbanness is a function of population concentration, which generates the essentially urban experience of living surrounded by strangers and stimulates the social phenomena and environmental modifications traditionally associated with urbanism. We make a clear distinction between urbanness and ‘development’, introduce the concept of ‘ephemeral urbanism’ and propose the development of new continuous indicators of urbanness based on population proximity to complement fixed residential density measures. Seeking a simple, consistent and rigorous definition of ‘urbanness’ that can be applied across spatial and temporal scales, Fox and Wolf argue for a geo-demographic measure based on population concentration and the distance required to reach a population threshold, rather than a definition relying on fixed boundaries or level of development.
{"title":"People make places urban","authors":"Sean Fox, Levi John Wolf","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00150-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00150-5","url":null,"abstract":"What makes a place ‘urban’? Here we develop the conceptual case for a simple geo-demographic approach to defining and measuring ‘urbanness’. Through a critical engagement with classic treatises on cities and urbanism, we argue that urbanness is a function of population concentration, which generates the essentially urban experience of living surrounded by strangers and stimulates the social phenomena and environmental modifications traditionally associated with urbanism. We make a clear distinction between urbanness and ‘development’, introduce the concept of ‘ephemeral urbanism’ and propose the development of new continuous indicators of urbanness based on population proximity to complement fixed residential density measures. Seeking a simple, consistent and rigorous definition of ‘urbanness’ that can be applied across spatial and temporal scales, Fox and Wolf argue for a geo-demographic measure based on population concentration and the distance required to reach a population threshold, rather than a definition relying on fixed boundaries or level of development.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"1 12","pages":"813-820"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142762886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-11DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00145-2
Amelia Thorpe, Marilyn Johnson, Courtney Hercus, Thomas Rudge, Soufiane Boufous, Derek Chong
On-demand delivery has changed the way cities move. Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, bicycles are the leading mode meeting growing consumer demand, particularly for food. In Australia, this has generated considerable attention, but the voice of riders is missing. Using grounded theory to reveal rider perspectives, we combined interviews (n = 52), a naturalistic study (104 hours) and roadside video observations (216 hours) to provide the first comprehensive picture of the experiences of delivery cyclists (including parcel couriers and food delivery cyclists working in both ‘gig’ and salaried roles) in Sydney and Melbourne. Concerns about safety for food delivery cyclists have prompted some to boycott the industry, yet our research shows that there is much to celebrate. Here we report what riders say are the greatest risks to their safety and how they would like these to be addressed. The changes that riders want most relate to the built environment, particularly connected, separated infrastructure and regulation for better sharing of street space. In some cases, riders are already finding ways to enact this change. This study uses a qualitative mixed-methods approach to study how delivery cyclists navigate Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. It identified positive experiences and that these riders face the same concerns as all cyclists with the added challenges of weather and consumer demand.
{"title":"Infrastructure, regulation and the experiences of delivery cyclists in Australian cities","authors":"Amelia Thorpe, Marilyn Johnson, Courtney Hercus, Thomas Rudge, Soufiane Boufous, Derek Chong","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00145-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00145-2","url":null,"abstract":"On-demand delivery has changed the way cities move. Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, bicycles are the leading mode meeting growing consumer demand, particularly for food. In Australia, this has generated considerable attention, but the voice of riders is missing. Using grounded theory to reveal rider perspectives, we combined interviews (n = 52), a naturalistic study (104 hours) and roadside video observations (216 hours) to provide the first comprehensive picture of the experiences of delivery cyclists (including parcel couriers and food delivery cyclists working in both ‘gig’ and salaried roles) in Sydney and Melbourne. Concerns about safety for food delivery cyclists have prompted some to boycott the industry, yet our research shows that there is much to celebrate. Here we report what riders say are the greatest risks to their safety and how they would like these to be addressed. The changes that riders want most relate to the built environment, particularly connected, separated infrastructure and regulation for better sharing of street space. In some cases, riders are already finding ways to enact this change. This study uses a qualitative mixed-methods approach to study how delivery cyclists navigate Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. It identified positive experiences and that these riders face the same concerns as all cyclists with the added challenges of weather and consumer demand.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"1 11","pages":"760-768"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-024-00145-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142525732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-11DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00147-0
Ignacio Tiznado-Aitken
Delivery cyclists have become common in urban life, which subtly transforms how we all experience and move through cities. Although they are often viewed negatively, an Australian study now highlights a more balanced and positive outlook.
{"title":"Navigating the goods and bads of delivery cyclists’ work","authors":"Ignacio Tiznado-Aitken","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00147-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00147-0","url":null,"abstract":"Delivery cyclists have become common in urban life, which subtly transforms how we all experience and move through cities. Although they are often viewed negatively, an Australian study now highlights a more balanced and positive outlook.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"1 11","pages":"728-729"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142525698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-11DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00133-6
Maria Rusca, Alice Sverdlik, Amitangshu Acharya, Britt Basel, Emily Boyd, Thaisa Comelli, David Dodman, Arabella Fraser, Dylan Matthew Harris, Sara Lindersson, Maurizio Mazzoleni, Marcellus Forh Mbah, Diana Mitlin, Anshu Ogra, Mark Pelling, Elena Raffetti, Farhana Sultana, Erica Thompson, Arianna Tozzi, Margreet Zwarteveen, Gabriele Messori
Managing climate change-related risks requires robust and actionable insights into future climates. Here we develop the plural climate storylines framework to complement existing physical climate storylines, which have strengthened the usability of climate projections yet struggled to generate action for just climate futures. By taking urban adaptation as a case in point, we illustrate the plural climate storylines framework through four complementary methodological schools that bring together multiple knowledges on complex social and climatic processes: power-sensitive storylines, decolonizing storylines, co-producing storylines and aspirational storylines. Our framework generates storylines with the potential to advance transformative policies and new pathways towards climate-just futures. Rusca et al. propose the plural climate storylines framework to build on the narrative element of physical climate storylines with methods that emphasize power asymmetries, decoloniality, co-production and desired futures. The goal of pluralizing climate storylines is to promote just, equitable development interventions.
{"title":"Plural climate storylines to foster just urban futures","authors":"Maria Rusca, Alice Sverdlik, Amitangshu Acharya, Britt Basel, Emily Boyd, Thaisa Comelli, David Dodman, Arabella Fraser, Dylan Matthew Harris, Sara Lindersson, Maurizio Mazzoleni, Marcellus Forh Mbah, Diana Mitlin, Anshu Ogra, Mark Pelling, Elena Raffetti, Farhana Sultana, Erica Thompson, Arianna Tozzi, Margreet Zwarteveen, Gabriele Messori","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00133-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00133-6","url":null,"abstract":"Managing climate change-related risks requires robust and actionable insights into future climates. Here we develop the plural climate storylines framework to complement existing physical climate storylines, which have strengthened the usability of climate projections yet struggled to generate action for just climate futures. By taking urban adaptation as a case in point, we illustrate the plural climate storylines framework through four complementary methodological schools that bring together multiple knowledges on complex social and climatic processes: power-sensitive storylines, decolonizing storylines, co-producing storylines and aspirational storylines. Our framework generates storylines with the potential to advance transformative policies and new pathways towards climate-just futures. Rusca et al. propose the plural climate storylines framework to build on the narrative element of physical climate storylines with methods that emphasize power asymmetries, decoloniality, co-production and desired futures. The goal of pluralizing climate storylines is to promote just, equitable development interventions.","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"1 11","pages":"732-740"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142525723","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-07DOI: 10.1038/s44284-024-00137-2
Ansar Khan, Prashant Anand, Samira Garshasbi, Rupali Khatun, Samiran Khorat, Rafiq Hamdi, Dev Niyogi, Mattheos Santamouris
The widespread adoption of rooftop photovoltaic solar panels in urban environments presents a promising renewable energy solution but may also have unintended consequences on urban temperatures. This is primarily due to their lower albedo, which leads to increased heat absorption and enhanced thermal convection between the panels and the underlying roof surfaces. Here we show that, in Kolkata, city-wide installation of these rooftop photovoltaic solar panels could raise daytime temperatures by up to 1.5 °C and potentially lower nighttime temperatures by up to 0.6 °C. Our study also reveals that rooftop photovoltaic solar panels significantly alter urban surface energy budgets, near-surface meteorological fields, urban boundary layer dynamics and sea breeze circulations. Comparative analysis with cities, such as Sydney, Austin, Athens and Brussels, supports these findings, providing valuable insights for policymakers on managing large-scale solar panel installations. Understanding these effects is crucial for balancing the benefits of renewable energy with its potential impacts on urban climates. This study looks at the diurnal temperature fluctuations in Kolkata through a model that tests the influence of rooftop photovoltaic solar panels on urban surface energy budgets, near-surface meteorological fields, urban boundary layer dynamics and sea breeze circulations. It found that panels heat cities during the day (up to 1.5 °C) but cool them at night (up to 0.6 °C).
{"title":"Rooftop photovoltaic solar panels warm up and cool down cities","authors":"Ansar Khan, Prashant Anand, Samira Garshasbi, Rupali Khatun, Samiran Khorat, Rafiq Hamdi, Dev Niyogi, Mattheos Santamouris","doi":"10.1038/s44284-024-00137-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44284-024-00137-2","url":null,"abstract":"The widespread adoption of rooftop photovoltaic solar panels in urban environments presents a promising renewable energy solution but may also have unintended consequences on urban temperatures. This is primarily due to their lower albedo, which leads to increased heat absorption and enhanced thermal convection between the panels and the underlying roof surfaces. Here we show that, in Kolkata, city-wide installation of these rooftop photovoltaic solar panels could raise daytime temperatures by up to 1.5 °C and potentially lower nighttime temperatures by up to 0.6 °C. Our study also reveals that rooftop photovoltaic solar panels significantly alter urban surface energy budgets, near-surface meteorological fields, urban boundary layer dynamics and sea breeze circulations. Comparative analysis with cities, such as Sydney, Austin, Athens and Brussels, supports these findings, providing valuable insights for policymakers on managing large-scale solar panel installations. Understanding these effects is crucial for balancing the benefits of renewable energy with its potential impacts on urban climates. This study looks at the diurnal temperature fluctuations in Kolkata through a model that tests the influence of rooftop photovoltaic solar panels on urban surface energy budgets, near-surface meteorological fields, urban boundary layer dynamics and sea breeze circulations. It found that panels heat cities during the day (up to 1.5 °C) but cool them at night (up to 0.6 °C).","PeriodicalId":501700,"journal":{"name":"Nature Cities","volume":"1 11","pages":"780-790"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-024-00137-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142525711","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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