Ecosystems and Environment Research Program, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65, Viikinkaari 1, 00014, Finland.
Bioeconomy and Environment Unit, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Paavo Havaksen tie 3, 90570, Oulu, Finland; Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu, Finland.
Health Place. 2024 Jul;88:103266. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103266. Epub 2024 May 17.
Climate change-related health risks are likely to become more prevalent in cities. Cities are also key actors in adaptation to these risks. Adaptation can take place through intentional measures to reduce vulnerability or exposure and unintentionally through other urban policy processes and outcomes. However, complex and dynamic relations between urban policy impacts and vulnerability development are an understudied phenomena. This limits the understanding of how urban climate-related health risks emerge and evolve. We examine urban policy pathways that influence vulnerability to climate-related health impacts with a most similar - most different case study. With a qualitative retrospective analysis of four urban areas in Finland we unveil the mechanism of how urban policy affects urban environment over time and how these impacts and changes shape vulnerability. Contrasting the most different cases, we show that urban policy impacts set differing preconditions to adaptation between local districts. We conclude by suggesting that to adapt to future challenges in cities with respect to social and ecological justice, it is necessary to mainstream adaptation into urban policies with continuous cross-sector and multi-level dialogue about the development of vulnerability.
气候变化相关的健康风险在城市中可能更为普遍。城市也是适应这些风险的关键行为者。适应可以通过有意采取措施减少脆弱性或暴露，也可以通过其他城市政策过程和结果无意识地进行。然而，城市政策影响和脆弱性发展之间复杂和动态的关系是一个研究不足的现象。这限制了人们对城市与气候相关的健康风险是如何出现和演变的理解。我们用最相似-最不同的案例研究来考察影响与气候相关的健康影响的脆弱性的城市政策途径。通过对芬兰四个城市地区的定性回顾性分析，我们揭示了城市政策随着时间的推移如何影响城市环境，以及这些影响和变化如何塑造脆弱性的机制。通过对比最不同的案例，我们表明城市政策的影响在地方地区之间为适应设定了不同的前提条件。最后我们提出，为了在社会和生态正义方面适应未来城市的挑战，有必要将适应纳入城市政策，通过跨部门和多层次的对话，持续关注脆弱性的发展。
