Conclusions and the Way Forward

The growing trends of urbanization and climate change have increased urban heat exposure and challenges in the past few decades. Extreme heat conditions have become more common in the past few years, with climatic changes and extremes becoming more evident in the future. Even if the world can make progress on mitigating climate change by drastically reducing the emission of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs), these trends are projected to continue in the coming decades. This chapter first discusses natural- and human-made drives of extreme urban heat events. We then highlight major urban heat adaptation and mitigation measures and strategies that are explored in this volume. We argue that mitigation measures have received more attention in science and policy circles, and a more balanced approach is needed to strengthen the adaptive capacity of communities. For this purpose, it is essential to adopt systemic approaches that are facilitated by decision-support tools enabled by advances in information and communication technologies and big data analytics. Such systemic approaches would also help promote justice in the context of urban heat adaptation and mitigation.