Urban Climates

Urban Climates is the first full synthesis of modern scientific and applied research on urban climates. The book begins with an outline of what constitutes an urban ecosystem. It develops a comprehensive terminology for the subject using scale and surface classification as key constructs. It explains the physical principles governing the creation of distinct urban climates, such as airflow around buildings, the heat island, precipitation modification and air pollution, and it then illustrates how this knowledge can be applied to moderate the undesirable consequences of urban development and help create more sustainable and resilient cities. With urban climate science now a fully-fledged field, this timely book fulfills the need to bring together the disparate parts of climate research on cities into a coherent framework. It is an ideal resource for students and researchers in fields such as climatology, urban hydrology, air quality, environmental engineering and urban design.

Table of Contents:
Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Concepts; 3. Methods; 4. Airflow; 5. Radiation; 6. Energy balance; 7. Urban heat island; 8. Water; 9. Atmospheric moisture; 10. Clouds and precipitation; 11. Air pollution; 12. Geographical controls; 13. Cities and global climate change; 14. Climates of humans; 15. Climate-sensitive design; Epilogue; Appendix 1. History of urban climatology; Appendix 2. Site codes and data sources; Appendix 3. Glossary and acronyms; References; Subject index; Geographical Index.

About the Author :
T. R. Oke is Professor Emeritus and former Head of Geography at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. His research interests focus on urban climate and the energy and water balances of cities. Dr Oke has published more than two hundred scientific publications, and is author of the widely-used text Boundary Layer Climates (1987). He founded and was the first President of the International Association for Urban Climate. He has won several medals, including the Meteorological Service of Canada's Patterson Medal in 2002, for distinguished service to meteorology, and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society's Massey Medal in 2005, for substantial contributions to understanding the microclimates of cities. G. Mills is an Associate Professor in the School of Geography at University College Dublin, where he is also Head of School. He teaches in the areas of climatology, sustainable urbanism and spatial analysis. His research interests lie mainly in the climates of cities, especially at the human scale, and the potential for managing these through climate-sensitive urban design. He is a former President of the Geographical Society of Ireland and a former President of the International Association for Urban Climate. A. Christen is Full Professor at the Chair of Environmental Meteorology of the University of Freiburg, Germany where he teaches fundamentals in weather, climate, climate change and urban climate. Previously, he was Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and in the Atmospheric Science Program at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. His research focuses on interactions between complex land surfaces - including cities - and the atmosphere. He develops new methods to quantify, attribute and model the exchange of energy, water and trace-gases between complex land surfaces and the atmosphere, in order to benefit applications such as climate-sensitive urban design, air pollution and emission management, urban weather forecasting and climate modeling. J. A. Voogt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Western Ontario. His broad area of research interest is urban climatology, with a specialization in the measurement and modeling of urban surface temperatures. He was the Co-Principal Investigator of the Environmental Prediction for Canadian Cities Network, a multi-institutional research network intended to develop and evaluate an urban-atmosphere model for the Canadian weather forecasting system. Dr Voogt is currently the President of the International Association for Urban Climate, and a former Chair of the American Meteorological Society's Board of the Urban Environment.

Review :
'This is a very important book for anyone interested in understanding the climates of cities - their characteristics, controls, causes and implications. Comprehensive, clearly written, richly illustrated, and with broad ranging examples and well documented sources of data, this is a book that should be read by researchers, students and practitioners interested in the urban environment, urban planning and design, and smart cities. Its presentation makes it accessible, valuable and insightful, to those new to the field as well as established experts. This book will be a classic reference that will stand up to being read many times.' Sue Grimmond, University of Reading 'As an architect and urban planner, I find this scientific text by Oke et al. to be comprehensive, insightful and useful for my next project. It makes my job designing healthy and resilient cities much easier. It is a must for those who care about the future of our cities.' Edward Ng, The Chinese University of Hong Kong 'Because the proportion of the world's population living in urban areas is expected to approach 65-70% by 2050, it is urgent and timely to gain a comprehensive understanding of '… physical mechanisms underlying the workings of urban atmospheres… (Preface)'. The four authors, all world renowned physical geographers and urban climatologists, have created the ultimate book on urban climate for gaining this understanding, meant primarily for upper undergraduate and beginning graduate levels and for those in other related fields, such as urban hydrology, air quality, environmental engineering, and urban design. The authors suggest that the book represents '… the first full synthesis of modern scientific and applied research on urban climates …'. Of this there is no doubt, and thus it is a book of monumental importance for researchers, educators, and students of urban climate science and urban environments.' Anthony J. Brazel, Arizona State University 'Monumental summary of urban climate, which could not be written by any other team of researchers than this, headed by the international face of the field for the last fifty years, Tim Oke. From its nineteenth-century beginnings, to latest research results, and then to its critical applications in weather forecasting, air quality, health, climate change, and planning, it will be indispensable for anyone interested in the subject, from students, researchers, and most importantly, planners.' Robert Bornstein, San Jose State University 'This book is without peer in its field. Written by four of the most eminent scientists in urban climate, this excellent book is destined to become a classic and a fundamental reference for students, teachers and researchers alike.' Nigel Tapper, Monash University, Melbourne 'A signature textbook has been lacking for some time now within the field of Urban Climate. We now have it. The content, quality and scope of Urban Climates are just what you would expect from some of the most respected urban climatologists in the world. I look forward to using it for my applied climatology in the urban environment class at the University of Georgia.' Marshall Shepherd, University of Georgia and former President of the American Meteorological Society 'Urban Climates is a must-read for students and scientists. From climatology to urban planning, it is very clear and complete, from concepts and processes to practical implementation and adaptation of cities to climate. It is illustrated with explicative diagrams of exceptional quality and many examples of this 'collection of microclimates' in various cities. Beyond the clear and rigorous overview of the physics of the urban atmosphere, Urban Climates offers a fantastic travel through the history of climate in cities around the world, from preindustrial cities and before to modern high-rise megacities.' Valéry Masson, Météo-France and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique