ABSTRACT
Winston Churchill said ‘We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us’. The reverse is now probably true for climate – it has shaped human activity, and now human activity is shaping the climate. Historically, human activity and development have always been inextricably linked with climate. Many of the great ancient cities and civilisations developed in benign climates that were conducive to social, cultural and scientifi c development. Some civilisations, such as the Mayan, are also thought to have died out due to changes in their local climate. Figure 1.1 shows how a mean outdoor air temperature contour of 21°C linked the sites of many ancient cities.
