ABSTRACT
The chapter title explicitly outlines its contents:
Dot 1 is climate change (CC) itself, with special focus on the deleterious role that the sprawling built environment plays in this global phenomenon.
Dot 2 is the UHI, a lesser known and misunderstood local phenomenon, which is heating up most cities twice as fast as their surrounding countryside or as the planet as a whole. Coupled with CC, many cities suffer extreme heat.
Dot 3 is excessive, unsustainable population growth in developing countries, combined with excessive consumption and carbon footprints in developed countries.
Dot 4 is the city itself, which is a solution, or at least a strategy that offers very effective social and structural ways to address the challenges represented by the first three dots.
Cities have long played a central role in our survival and evolution and will continue to do so as we combat CC. If the populous city is a major citadel in this war, then the UHI is the Trojan Horse – as opposed to the long frontal assault needed in the larger campaign against CC.
