ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book indicates that continued urbanization coupled with an ageing population potentially increases future risks from heatwaves. It introduces earthquakes and tsunamis, describes their impacts. It examines tropical cyclones, how climate change has affected cyclones, the impacts of cyclones, and risk management. The chapter introduces flooding, describes types of floods and their impacts, and discusses flood risk mitigation, including the Thames Estuary 2100 case study. It describes extreme heat and cold events, discusses the social dimensions of heat and cold events using the Australian 2019 heatwave and North American 2017–2018 cold spell as case studies, and examines mitigation and lessons learned. The chapter introduces climate change, presents climate change mitigation and adaptation typologies, discusses impacts of climate change and adaptation on people and their communities, and examines climate change mitigation and adaptation in the context of vulnerability and risk.
