Cooling the City? A Scientometric Study on Urban Green and Blue Infrastructure and Climate Change-Induced Public Health Effects

Leo Capari, Harald Wilfing, Andreas Exner, Daniela Haluza

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

Abstract

Climate change causes global effects on multiple levels. The anthropogenic input of greenhouse gases increases the atmospheric mean temperature. It furthermore leads to a higher probability of extreme weather events (e.g., heat waves, floods) and thus strongly impacts the habitats of humans, animals, and plants. Against this background, research and innovation activities are increasingly focusing on potential health-related aspects and feasible adaptation and mitigation strategies. Progressing urbanization and demographic change paired with the climate change-induced heat island effect exposes humans living in urban habitats to increasing health risks. By employing scientometric methods, this scoping study provides a systematic bird's eye view on the epistemic landscapes of climate change, its health-related effects, and possible technological and nature-based interventions and strategies in order to make urban areas climate proof. Based on a literature corpus consisting of 2614 research articles collected in SCOPUS, we applied network-based analysis and visualization techniques to map the different scientific communities, discourses and their interrelations. From a public health perspective, the results demonstrate the range of either direct or indirect health effects of climate change. Furthermore, the results indicate that a public health-related scientific discourse is converging with an urban planning and building science driven discourse oriented towards urban blue and green infrastructure. We conclude that this development might mirror the socio-political demand to tackle emerging climate change-induced challenges by transgressing disciplinary boundaries.

Original languageEnglish
Article number4929
Number of pages19
JournalSustainability (Switzerland)
Volume14
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2022

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 107004 Human ecology
  • 105904 Environmental research

Keywords

  • climate change; urban heat island; health effects; urban blue green infrastructure; sciento- metric analysis
  • urban heat island
  • sciento-metric analysis
  • urban blue green infrastructure
  • health effects
  • climate change
  • AIR-POLLUTION
  • DISEASE RISK
  • REDUCTION
  • EMERGING TRENDS
  • SCIENCE
  • scientometric analysis
  • HEAT WAVES
  • VEGETATION

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