Engineering approaches for modelling urban heat stress under a comfort and health perspective

Today, more than 50% of the world population lives in cities, with a prospect of increasing to 70% by 2050. These percentages have already been exceeded in Europe, in particular in the Mediterranean Area, where the urban population rate is of about 68%. On the other hand, also the ageing process of the population is increasing at a worrying rate, and this process has a direct impact on health and vulnerability conditions in the urban context. However, only recently it has been understood how the physical environment of cities becomes a determining factor for the well-being of citizens, especially in light of current climate change and consequent increase of health risks. This presentation aims at showing how the complex physical processes involved in determining the so called Urban Heat Stress, i.e. the high temperatures achieved within urban settlements, can be modelled with engineering-based methods. Such approaches could be used to predict which urban areas are more prone to heat stress, to advise the population of likely health risks on certain very hot days and also to plan suitable mitigation interventions.