title: Implications of global climate change for housing, human settlements and public health.
abstract: Global climate change has profound implications for human societies. The present---ecologically unsustainable--trajectory of human development fails to provide for the basic needs of a substantial fraction of the global population, while diminishing the prospects for future generations. Human-caused climate change has already begun to affect weather patterns, physical and biological phenomena, and vulnerable human communities. Because the social processes of production and consumption have their own momentum, and because carbon dioxide has a long atmospheric lifetime, further climate change is inevitable over the coming century, even allowing for the adoption of mitigation measures. This situation implies that we should also try to reduce, and where possible to prevent, the adverse effects of climate changes by planned adaptation. Will human settlements be able to provide a healthy living environment and shelter from extreme climate events, such as cyclones and heat waves? In this paper, we review the nexus between human health, climate change, and the planning of housing and human settlements. We conclude that adapting to a rapidly changing global environment will be a major challenge, in the context of increasing population and per capita consumption, without increasing pressures on natural systems. Energy-efficient cities and the creation of opportunities for poor countries will be important elements of people centered, ecologically sustainable, development in the twenty-first century.
authors: University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand. simon.hales@otago.ac.nz
authors: Simon
authors: S
authors: Hales
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Baker
authors: Philippa
authors: P
authors: Howden-Chapman
authors: Bettina
authors: B
authors: Menne
authors: Rosalie
authors: R
authors: Woodruff
authors: Alistair
authors: A
authors: Woodward
mesh_terms: D002958:City Planning; D004190:Disasters; D017753:Ecosystem; D004779:Environment Design; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D006291:Health Policy; D006798:Housing; D006802:Human Activities; D006801:Humans; D011634:Public Health