B Keywords – built environment; climate change; CO2 emissions; developed and developing countries’

cities; energy consumption patterns

Climate change becomes, eventually, one of the main items in the political agenda of both

developed and developing countries. There are no more doubts about the mainly

anthropogenic cause of it and about the dramatic events that will take place if we are

not able to reduce the present trend towards the increase of greenhouse gas (GHG)

concentration in the atmosphere.