TITLE:
Urban-Ecological Survey for Small Settlements
AUTHORS:
Martin Fabisch, Sascha Henninger
KEYWORDS:
Urban-Ecological Survey, Urban Climate, Small Settlements
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.4 No.10,
July
8,
2014
ABSTRACT: Climate
change is not just a global problem. When ecological conditions are altered by
people, local climate will also be transformed. This local climate change is
particularly pronounced within urban areas. This can, for example, lead to
urban heat islands, which can amount to up to 10 K in large cities. In addition
to this, there is also an extensive effect on local wind fields, air pollution
control as well as on an urban water balance. An area-wide confirmation of this
urban climate effect is only possible through extensive and usually expensive
empirical surveys or complex modelling. For this reason, studies of the urban
climate are mainly carried out in large cities. However, even in small
settlements local climate can have a negative impact on humans. In order to
plan settlement developments which are suitable for urban climate, local
conditions must first be analysed. Currently used methods cannot provide
low-cost solutions which deliver sufficient findings with regards to how detailed and current the data are.
The approach of gathering urban-climate-relevant indicators locally,
even in small settlements, in order to identify possible problem areas, is
already providing a starting point for ecological urban development. Many of
these indicators only start showing an effect when used in combination with
other indicators. In order to record these interdependencies and to obtain
detailed and robust primary data for suggested courses of action, two different
indicators must be evaluated and then illustrated e.g. in a matrix. This allows
for individual sub-areas, which hold potential for a particular climatic
phenomenon in settlements, to be easily and effectively visualized, and thus
identified.