URP4052 Week 3: Climate Change and Urban Planning

Vocabulary flashcards covering climate science fundamentals, international climate policies, urban planning paradigms, and resilience strategies from URP4052 Lecture Week 3.

Weather

The day-to-day conditions of the atmosphere—such as temperature, precipitation, and wind—that occur over the short term and are experienced locally.

Climate

Long-term atmospheric patterns and conditions experienced broadly across a region over decades, centuries, or longer.

The Keeling Curve

A continuous graph documenting the ongoing rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) concentrations, measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii since 1958.

Decoupling

A condition in which economic development and growth proceed without an accompanying increase in environmental pressure or impact.

Scenario Planning

A decision-making process designed for uncertain and complex future conditions that works by developing, comparing, and assessing multiple plausible storylines rather than relying on a single forecast.

Predict-and-Plan

A traditional urban planning model initiated around 1960 that focuses on forecasting a single future trajectory to generate alternatives and select one preferred plan.

Greenhouse Effect

The process by which solar radiation is absorbed by Earth's surface and re-radiated as infrared energy, which is subsequently absorbed and re-emitted in all directions by atmospheric gases, warming the lower atmosphere.

Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)

Gases in the atmosphere that trap heat by absorbing infrared radiation, specifically including water vapor ($H_2O$), carbon dioxide ($CO_2$), methane ($CH_4$), and nitrous oxide ($N_2O$).

Methane ($CH_4$)

A potent greenhouse gas with a significantly higher capacity to trap heat energy than carbon dioxide, though it has a shorter residence time in the atmosphere.

Wildfire-Climate Feedback Loop

A self-reinforcing climate cycle in which hotter and drier conditions increase the frequency and severity of wildfires, releasing carbon stored in trees and soils into the atmosphere and accelerating global warming.

Atmospheric Moisture Holding Capacity

The physical relationship whereby every $1^\top\text{C}$ rise in air temperature enables the air to hold approximately $7\%$ more water vapor, intensifying heavy rainfall events and flash flood risks.

Thermal Expansion of Seawater

The increase in ocean water volume that occurs as ocean temperatures rise, serving as a primary driver of global sea level rise alongside the melting of land-based ice sheets and glaciers.

Coastal Floodplain Expansion

The landward progression of high-tide boundaries and storm surge extents driven by sea level rise, converting historical 100-year flood levels into frequent events.

Coastal Adaptation Strategies (Resist, Accommodate, Retreat)

The three core planning responses to sea level rise: erecting hard barriers to prevent flooding (resist), retrofitting and elevating structures to live with water (accommodate), and relocating settlements inland away from hazards (retreat).

MOSE Project

An integrated defense system consisting of rows of mobile steel gates installed at the lagoon inlets of Venice (including Bocca di Malamocco) that rise using compressed air to protect the city from tides up to $1\,\text{m}$.

Maeslant Storm Surge Barrier

The largest moveable storm barrier in the world, constructed in the Netherlands to protect low-lying waterways and urban regions from catastrophic storm surges.

Thermohaline Circulation

The deep-ocean conveyor belt driven by differences in water density—controlled by temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline)—that redistributes heat and nutrients globally.

Garden City Concept

An urban planning model formulated by Ebenezer Howard in the late 19th and early 20th centuries aiming to merge town economic advantages with countryside nature in self-contained, greenbelt-ringed communities of roughly 30,000 people.

The Three Magnets

A conceptual diagram created by Ebenezer Howard illustrating the respective draws and drawbacks of 'Town' and 'Country,' concluding that people should choose the hybrid 'Town-Country' ideal.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change, jointly founded in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Conference of the Parties (COP)

The supreme decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), meeting annually since 1995 to evaluate global progress on climate action.

Kyoto Protocol

The agreement adopted at COP 3 in 1997 that established the first legally binding greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for developed nations.

Paris Agreement

A legally binding international climate treaty adopted at COP 21 in 2015 aimed at limiting global warming to well below $2^\circ\text{C}$, preferably to $1.5^\circ\text{C}$, relative to pre-industrial levels.

Climate Change Mitigation

Actions and strategies aimed at tackling the causes of climate change by reducing, preventing, or capturing greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate Change Adaptation

Actions and measures designed to reduce human and ecological vulnerability to the inevitable impacts and hazards caused by climate change.

Stabilization Wedges

A framework proposed by Pacala and Socolow (2004) where a 'stabilization triangle' is divided into eight discrete technological or behavioral strategies, each preventing $1\,\text{billion tons}$ of carbon emissions per year by 2060.

Albedo

A dimensionless measure of a surface's solar reflectivity, expressed from 0 (total absorption) to 1 (total reflection), determining how much solar radiation is absorbed versus reflected back into space.

Ice-Albedo Feedback

A positive climate feedback mechanism wherein warming melts reflective sea ice and glaciers, exposing darker water or land that absorbs more solar energy, which further drives warming and ice melt.

Urban Heat Island (UHI)

An urbanized area that experiences significantly higher surface and ambient air temperatures than outlying rural areas because paved surfaces and buildings absorb and re-emit solar heat more than natural landscapes.

Climate Migration

The displacement or relocation of human populations prompted by climate impacts, with World Bank analyses projecting that over 200 million people in low-income nations could migrate due to climate change by 2050.