| Resumen: |
Urbanization is one of the most powerful, irreversible, and visible anthropogenic forces on Earth driving transformations of landscapes and ecosystems and global environmental problems. Cities across the developing world are struggling to meet rising demands for safe and respectable housing, transportation, water, waste treatment and other infrastructure and services necessary to foster healthy and productive places to live and work. As the understanding grows around how climate change will affect urban areas, ‘climate proofing’ and ‘climate risk screening’ are increasingly becoming part of the arsenal of donors and governments, reflecting a desire for infrastructure investments to be protected from climate-related shocks and stresses. This issue of UGEC Viewpoints responds to the committement of the Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC) project to promote new scientific understanding of the interactions between urban areas and global environmental change and this new understanding has begun to take shape in local governance structures. |
