The Mission of the EDWG is to provide an environment and programs in which diverse people (in terms of career stage, sector, ethnicity, culture) may collaboratively learn about the impacts of extreme events on urban areas and how to promote the resilience of urban SETS infrastructure.
Extreme heat is becoming an increasingly dangerous threat to urban residents. However, unlike hazards such as storm surges, communities lack basic knowledge of where extreme heat threats are likely to have the most impacts, and who is most likely to be most affected.
Miami is dealing with many complex challenges when the UREx SRN began in 2016, Southeast Florida is considered one of the most vulnerable regions in the US to the impacts of climate extremes, a where place multiple hazards intersect, like many densely populated areas along the coast.
The central objective of the CHExWG is to produce future scenarios of extreme climate and hydrologic events grounded on past conditions that have impacts on urban infrastructure. This will promote better urban planning through provision of realistic and city-tailored future scenarios of climate and hydrologic extremes
Understanding the governance of urban climate resilience is a crucial aspect of the UREx SETS approach. While cities are increasingly leading the way in developing actions to address climate change, many of the expected risks from climate change, such as a greater frequency of extreme events (e.g., floods, heat, and drought), are too large and complex for city governments to address on their own.
Portland is often considered an environmentally-conscious, planning-oriented city. Indeed, when the UREx SRN began, urban green infrastructure projects were well underway, and the city had already begun to think seriously about climate change preparedness, introducing the nation’s first local climate action plan in 1993.
Six future scenarios were produced for Hermosillo for the year 2080, including smart urban development, mobility and transportation, water security, safe city, economic innovation and competitiveness and environmental health.
New York City is the largest city in the USA with approximately 8.5 million people in 2016 (U.S. Census Bureau), and is built around a network of rivers, estuaries, and islands with much of the Metropolitan region within which the City is situated being less than 5 m above mean sea level (MSL)
Synthesis of F&C strategies task force
With the merit of nine UREx cities in the US and Latin America, the CCWG is a collaborative research structure to coordinate data acquisition and develop comparative research projects across network cities. The CCWG has focused on fostering improved communication and coordination of cross-city research through city updates in the WG meetings and served as a platform for task forces (TFs) for carrying out specific research goals.