Response: Section four of Part III of Climate Change and Cities deals with how to rework energy systems (and their issues) for cities by adapting to new climatic conditions and keeping the area’s economy and policies in mind. Throughout the chapter, data from a range of types and sizes of cities from around the world is presented. The chapter generally covers how “cities obtain and use energy and govern energy matters”, ending with “commentary on areas for future research and potential policy changes that can help cities improve their management of local energy systems in the coming decades”. When covering urban energy systems and how cities use and govern them, they go over technology choices, market structure, system governance, general energy use in cities, climate risks to said urban energy systems, efforts by cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and efforts by cities to adapt local energy systems. Section seven of Part III of Climate Change and Cities deals with climate change in relation to human health in cities, presenting issues and case studies relevant to this topic. Since climate change is expected to increase our chances of extreme weather events in the future and the percentage of people in the world who live in large cities is rising, it is likely that more people will be affected by these severe events when they strike denser areas. On top of this, “the concentration of populations in urban areas also tends to lengthen the supply lines for essentials such as water, food, and energy sources, and makes them more dependent on waste collection”, and if these people didn’t have access to what they needed due to weather conditions, there would be serious consequences. The chapter goes over ways in which climate change will affect the health of city dwellers, the challenge for cities, health-related findings of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, urban health outcomes and their drivers, ” climate change and urban health outcomes: modifying influences”, adaptation, policies and policy issues, and research and data needs.
