11th Environmental Dialogue: Climate Change and Urban Heat Stress: How Can Cities Prepare to Meet the Future?

Recent developments such as growing urbanisation, rising temperatures worldwide, prolonged heat waves and weather extremes such as heavy rain emphasise the need to transform cities in a climate-resilient manner. The average temperature in Vienna has risen steadily over the last 60 years: from 9.3 degrees to 12.2 degrees Celsius. The summer in large cities is accompanied by prolonged heat waves. While in the 70s there were still an average of 7 hot days a year, currently there are 27. The urban population, especially the elderly, is increasingly suffering from extreme temperatures. More and more people die due to the weather, not only in southern Europe. Solutions such as green infrastructure, the cooling down of cities and their heat islands, and the adaptation of infrastructure to extreme weather events are becoming increasingly important. The problems posed by global climate change are closely interwoven with the issues of mobility, access to green spaces, water supply and infrastructure and social justice. We can only overcome these challenges if we understand and solve them in their entirety and have a long-term perspective in mind because we usually cannot rebuild urban infrastructure quickly, but only within several decades. Today we have to think about the weather in 30 years.

The 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) of the United Nations provide general goals and guidance: The aim is to improve air quality and to increase public access to green areas. The basic supply, including housing and water, should be secured despite changing conditions. Sustainable and accessible mobility should be expanded. Citizens should be more involved in urban planning. In order to achieve these goals, urban developers need empirically substantiated proposals and findings from different academic disciplines.

What measures are needed to jointly address the future problems of climate change in urban areas? How can we make our cities more climate resilient? How can urban developers prepare cities for upcoming challenges? How can we safeguard the health of the population in cities? What is the legal context of these issues? What potential does private law offer to support climate-resilient urban development?

When: 28 May 2024, Admission 17:30, Start: 18:00
Where: Upper cupola hall, Natural History Museum Vienna, main entrance – Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1010 Vienna

Welcome

• Katrin Vohland – Director General of the Natural History Museum Vienna
• Sebastian Schütze – Rector of the University of Vienna
• Thilo Hofmann – Professor of Environmental Geosciences at the University of Vienna and Head of the Environment and Climate Research Hub

Keynote “Hitze, Überschwemmungen und Co im Kontext städtischer Anpassung, Resilienz und Transformationen”

• Kerstin Krellenberg – Professor of Urban Studies at the Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy at the University of Vienna

Podiumsdiskussion mit Publikumsbeteiligung

• Kerstin Krellenberg – Professor of Urban Studies at the Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy at the University of Vienna
• Stephanie Nitsch – Tenure Track Professor at the Institute of European, International and Comparative Law at the University of Vienna
• Hans-Peter Hutter – Senior Physician and Deputy Head of the Department of Environmental Health at the Center for Public Health at the Medical University of Vienna
• Nina Abrahamczik – Chair of the municipal council committee on climate, environment, democracy and human resources of the City of Vienna
• Moderator: Marlene Nowotny, science editor Ö1 radio