SPECIAL FEATURE
The authors
Kathryn Grace
Associate Professor of Geography, Environment and Society, University of Minnesota
1.7 billion people live in urban areas where extreme heat exposure has risen over the last 35 years Nearly two-thirds of the global increase in urban exposure to extreme heat was in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia 4.4 billion currently live in towns and cities globally, up from two billion people in 1985
Chris Funk
Director of the Climate Hazards Center, University of California, Santa Barbara
higher because of the materials used to build roads and buildings. But it is also because the number of people living in dense urban areas has rapidly increased. Urban populations have ballooned, from two billion people living in cities and towns in 1985 to 4.4 billion today. While the patterns vary from city to city, urban population growth has been fastest
“Most reports on urban heat
exposure are based on broad estimates that overlook millions of at-risk residents. We looked closer.”
Cascade Tuholske
among African cities where governments did not plan or build infrastructure to meet the needs of new urban residents.
Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN),
Columbia Climate School, Columbia University
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Illustration: p.ill.i/Shutterstock
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