Learning from COVID-19 for Climate-Ready Urban Transformation/ Element in the Third Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities (ARC3.3)

Cities have suffered from three years of the COVID-19 pandemic and are increasingly experiencing exacerbated heatwaves, floods, and droughts due to climate change. Going forward, cities need to address both climate and public health crises effectively while reducing poverty and inequity, often in the context of economic pressure and declining levels of trust in government. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed gaps in city readiness for simultaneous responses to pandemics and climate change, particularly in the Global South. However, these concurrent challenges to cities present an opportunity to reformulate current urbanization patterns and the economies and dynamics they enable. This Element focuses on understanding COVID-19's impact on city systems related to climate change mitigation and adaptation, and vice versa, in terms of warnings, lessons learned, and calls to action. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

(About this Cambridge Elements series) Elements in Climate Change and Cities – published in collaboration with the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) –   provides readers with urban climate change knowledge, tools, and case studies to heighten opportunities for sustainability and resilience in cities worldwide. This series forms UCCRN’s Third Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities (ARC3.3), building on the preceding ARC3.1 (2011) and ARC3.2 (2018). As an assessment of the latest research and new scientific insights, ARC3.3 explores pressing climate issues, transformative solutions, and cross-cutting themes. This series is produced by scholars from cities around the world with the ambition of helping cities further fulfil their role as climate change leaders. Each Element has innovative approaches to mitigation, adaptation, and resilience, highlighting effective strategies for urban action and transformation. The series invites readers to engage with the latest advancements, empowering researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and students to actively shape the future of urban environments. (from the Cambridge University Press website: Elements in Climate Change and Cities)