Exploring the Role of Urban Green Space in Building Climate ‎Resilient Cities; A case of Nairobi and Lagos Cities.

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Abstract
Adaptation to climate change depends centrally on what is done in urban centres and cities. ‎climate change and rapid urbanization have become two major issues related to human welfare ‎and development around the world. One of the environmental aspects that are influenced by ‎urbanization is urban micro-climate. Human activities and urban developments have a ‎significant effect on the increase in local air temperatures in cities. Permeable land surfaces which ‎were once covered by vegetation have now being replaced with impermeable and high emissivity ‎surfaces and mostly un-shaded, and such urban surfaces tend to absorb the solar radiation and ‎emit it later, which causes an increase in local temperatures. The rapid urbanization compounded ‎by underlying population places pressure upon urban green spaces within cities, and they ‎constitute a major environmental resource of the urban landscape. In Africa, data show that ‎urban green spaces are depleting at an alarming rate with green spaces now occupying small ‎proportion of the landmass of several urban areas, despite the well documented crucial roles they ‎have in improving the environmental quality and sustainability, providing a broad range of ‎services and enriching social, ecological, and cultural values including landscape aesthetics, ‎outdoor recreations, noise reduction and the most important of all, its cooling efficiency. The task ‎ahead is to transform our existing cities to become more sustainable and liveable. Therefore, this ‎study will attempt to explore the role played by urban green spaces in mitigating and adapting ‎cities to urban heat island effects in building climate-resilient cities within the African context. It ‎will examine the relationship between urban heat island and spatial patterns, composition and ‎configuration of urban green spaces in a comparative study of two African cities, Lagos ‎‎(Nigeria), and Nairobi (Kenya). Assessing the vulnerabilities and opportunities in governance in ‎order to develop sustainable strategies to address the problems affecting the sustainable ‎management of urban green spaces, which in turn will be an effective way of proposing solutions ‎to minimize the impacts of urban heat island exposure to urban dwellers by ensuring the adaptive ‎capacity of urban systems in terms of the ability to self-organise and adjust in relation to ‎externally driven changes.‎
Abstract ID :
ISO140
Submission Type
Submission Track
4: Safeguarding the Urban Resilience
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