In this section you will learn about the approaches that can be used to adapt to the identified impacts of climate change in the region on human health and welfare. As in the Impacts section the following areas are particularly addressed:

• Public Health;
• Hospitals;
• Care Homes; and
• Vulnerable Communities.

These approaches are intended to build resilience, limit negative impacts, and enable society and appropriate organisations to prepare for and benefit from any opportunities presented by the changing climate.

 

Many of the measures that can be taken to mitigate climate change or adapt to its impacts also tackle other issues, particularly where health and welfare are concerned.

There are significant efforts already underway to tackle the root causes of deprivation and social inequality, throughout the whole of the United Kingdom. Low levels of personal fitness, poor eating habits and a lack of access to green spaces are examples of the wide range of issues that local authorities and healthcare services are working hard to address. Many people are faced with substantial energy bills to stay warm over the winter in homes that are poorly insulated.

Tackling these issues effectively will pay many dividends when it comes to adapting to climate change, by providing increased adaptive capacity even if this was not the key aim of the scheme. This does not mean that dedicated climate change adaptation schemes will not be necessary. Far from it, overcoming preconceptions of environmental issues, challenging ‘social norms’ and stimulating behaviour change towards sustainable lifestyles present many unique and significant challenges.

Full consideration should be given to the following adaptation measures:

• Cooling the urban environment should be given full consideration by planners, designers and infrastructure owners. As cities grow the urban heat-island effect will intensify unless changes are planned and built in at an early stage (i.e. immediately). Keeping temperatures at comfortable levels in the summer, however, should not be at the detriment of people during the winter (i.e. buildings being too cold leading to additional heating). Summer cooling should not be dependent upon air conditioning systems. These will only serve to exacerbate climate change through increased energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions, creating a positive feedback. The following should be looked at in detail:

1. Use trees and other vegetation widely throughout urban areas. Trees provide an extremely effective method of reducing surface temperatures, and also promote biodiversity. They have an important, and often overlooked, positive effect on mental health and wellbeing. A 2008 study concluded that ‘living near parks, woodlands or other open spaces helps to reduce inequality, regardless of social class’. It is important that this is viewed strategically, so that trees and green spaces are introduced as soon as possible, allowing them to mature and the benefits to be tangible.
2. Building design should make good use of natural light and natural ventilation instead of relying upon energy intensive heating and cooling systems, going some way towards ‘climate-proofing’ the building.
3. Green roofs help to reduce water run off, promote urban cooling and provide habitats for biodiversity. They should be introduced widely.


• Investigate the reasons behind the expected out-migration of elderly people from urban centres. Increasingly ageing populations in rural areas will place significant strain on care providers and health services in these areas. Measures to slow the migration could help to keep people in and around areas where facilities are better. Investigate a move to ‘full life-cycle’ housing (eg Lifetime Homes) whereby homes are sufficiently flexible to accommodate people’s needs over their whole lives, reducing the need to move home due to mobility problems for example.  Otherwise the location of health and care facilities may require review in the medium term.

• Promote and encourage resilience in communities that will not only help residents to deal with climate change and extreme events, but which will also contribute towards a healthier lifestyle with improved wellbeing. The Transition Towns initiative (www.transitiontowns.org) is a good example of this. Greater community engagement and cohesion could also be achieved through emergency preparedness training and strategies at a more local level, so that vulnerable communities are aware of the climate change-related risks they may face, for example flooding, or vulnerability to extreme temperatures.

• Mechanisms should be introduced to ease compensation payments by insurers to home and business-owners who have been adversely affected by flooding. Slow compensation pay-outs serve to greatly increase the mental stress endured by people recovering from flood or storm damage.

• Efforts should be made to improve communication with black and minority ethnic (BME) groups. BME groups are often concentrated in less affluent areas of towns and cities. For many, English is not their native language, complicating communication.

• Education campaigns at schools and colleges can engage with young people to help them understand the holistic relationship between the environment and health and wellbeing. Schools should feature trees and green spaces, and longer-term consideration could be given to modifying schooling hours to reduce the impact of increasing temperatures.

• Widespread investment in and promotion of the uptake of more sustainable modes of transport. Replacing single-occupier car journeys with trips by foot, bicycle, public transport and car-sharing will bring wide-ranging, long-term benefits including:
  
  
  • Improvements in air quality in towns and cities;
  • Improved physical and mental wellbeing, particularly for walkers and cyclists;
  • Cities where more sustainable modes of transport are dominant, with the infrastructure geared towards walking, cycling and public transport, take on a much improved ‘feel’. The Dutch city of Groningen - ‘World Cycling City’ - is an excellent example.

• Voluntary sector groups could be engaged to help local people prepare for, and during, heatwave and other extreme weather conditions, for example. Providing advice, information and help, particularly to vulnerable communities. The 2006 National Health Service’s Heatwave Plan for England provides advice on planning for and dealing with heatwaves.

• Retrofitting homes to reduce vulnerability to fuel poverty. While temperatures will be rising, it is highly likely that so too will energy prices, meaning that the numbers of people in fuel poverty could easily increase. Vulnerable households and areas of deprivation should be targeted in particular. This will be a significant task, requiring investment and strong local and regional leadership to ‘future proof’ communities against likely energy availability and costs.

• Work with all residents and businesses throughout the region to actively engage with them about climate change and its impacts. Education should cover the spectrum of environmental topics including waste, energy conservation, renewable energy production, sustainable transport, building resilience and community responses to climate change. Such an approach will help people feel empowered to face the challenges that climate change will present. People left without an understanding of how to, or a means of, staying mobile with increasingly expensive fuel costs for example, will likely suffer from stress and other welfare problems.

• Building greater resilience into rural care and welfare services to enable them to deal with a growing elderly population; the inherent health problems that exist; and the additional ones as a result of more extreme weather events, higher temperatures and air pollution episodes.

• Effectively dealing with occupational heat stress could involve wider introduction of flexible working hours and home working policies. Innovation centres allow people to work effectively and remotely, without having to travel longer distances to work, or whilst ‘on-site’. They may provide more comfortable working environments than large office buildings. Wider societal changes may be necessary, giving people more flexibility in their jobs and lifestyles.

• A significant change in the way that society uses and values water will allow savings to be made and greatly reduce the amount of wastage. Building designs should utilise rainwater capture systems. Smart metering would help people to become aware of the amount of water that they consume and the costs, which should drive improved efficiency. This is another way to build ‘resilience’ to future change, allowing people to become more independent and less constrained by high utility prices. This also applies to gas and electricity supplies.

 

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| North Yorkshire | West Yorkshire | Humber | South Yorkshire |

 

• Cooling the York urban environment in 2050 should be a key target for planners, designers and infrastructure owners. As the city grows the urban heat-island effect will intensify unless changes are planned and built in without delay. Keeping temperatures at comfortable levels in the summer, however, should not be at the detriment of people during the winter (i.e. buildings being too cold leading to a requirement for additional heating). Summer cooling should not be dependent upon air conditioning systems. Such energy intensive systems have the additional disadvantages of increasing energy consumption and will result in further spending on fuel bills. In the widest sense they will also serve to exacerbate climate change through increased greenhouse gas emissions. The following should be fully incorporated into urban design:

1. Use trees and other vegetation widely throughout urban areas. Trees provide an extremely effective method of reducing surface temperatures, and also promote biodiversity. They have an important, and often overlooked, positive effect on mental health and wellbeing. A 2008 study concluded that ‘living near parks, woodlands or other open spaces helps to reduce inequality, regardless of social class’. It is important that this is viewed strategically, so that trees and green spaces are introduced as soon as possible, allowing them to mature and the benefits to be tangible.
2. Building design should make good use of natural light and natural ventilation instead of relying upon energy intensive heating and cooling systems, going some way towards ‘climate-proofing’ the building.
3. Green roofs help to reduce water run off, promote urban cooling and provide habitats for biodiversity. They should be introduced widely.

• Investigate the reasons behind the expected out-migration of elderly people from York and other towns in North Yorkshire. Increasingly ageing populations in rural areas will place significant strain on care providers and health services in these areas. Investigate the measures that can be taken to help slow or even reverse the trend. Engage with elderly people in York to gain an understanding of why they are being drawn to rural areas in later life; establish what improvements could be made in York, Harrogate and Ripon that would encourage people to stay.

• Introduce schemes that allow widespread uptake of cycling, walking and public transport use and a reduction in dependence upon cars, particularly in York.

• Promote and encourage efforts to build resilience in communities throughout the region; not only urban centres but also in rural areas such as Richmondshire, Rydale and Craven districts. Provide people with an understanding of climate change and its predicted impacts, including how to cope with extreme temperatures, actions to take during periods of prolonged and heavy rainfall that could result in floods. Doing so will also contribute towards healthier lifestyles and improved wellbeing, as people take steps to lead more sustainable lives. The Transition Towns Initiative (www.transitiontowns.org) is one example of how successful such schemes can be at a local level. Greater community engagement and cohesion will enable areas to deal much more effectively with conditions such as floods or heat waves that are to be expected more frequently.

• Facilitate, and encourage the uptake of, widespread schemes (for domestic and commercial properties) that harvest rain water, in order to limit the effect of water shortages. Green roofs can also capture significant sums of rainwater thus reducing run-off and the likelihood of flooding.

• Improve public building design, especially for hospitals and care homes, so that they are able to maintain internal temperatures at comfortable levels during extreme temperature events. If possible, cooling should not be provided by air conditioning systems which use large sums of energy and further contribute to atmospheric warming. Buildings should use natural ventilation as far as possible and be constructed from materials that reflect rather than retain energy. Include green roofs, and make the best possible of trees to provide shade. These buildings will also consume significantly less energy than standard contemporary designs, providing additional benefits to health and welfare services.

• Organisations that provide mobile care services for people in rural areas will need to be prepared to serve an increasing number of people in rural areas with increasing care requirements (i.e. the elderly). Levels of coverage will need to be improved, again focussed on rural areas, and contingencies put in place to deal with an increasing frequency of heat wave, flood and severe storm events.

 

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• Cooling the urban environment in Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield should be given full consideration by planners, designers and infrastructure owners. It will become increasingly difficult to hold urban temperatures at comfortable levels in the summer. Limiting summer maximum temperatures must not, however, be at the detriment of keeping people warm during the winter (i.e. buildings being too cold leading to additional heating). In this situation, high levels of insulation provide a simple win-win situation in summer and winter and schemes to address current fuel poverty will also enhance resilience against future episodes of heat. Sympathetic urban and building design should make full use of modern technologies and natural heating and ventilation, The following should be given full consideration:
  
  
  1. Use trees and other vegetation widely throughout urban areas. Trees provide an extremely effective method of reducing surface temperatures, and also promote biodiversity. They have an important and often overlooked positive effect on mental health and wellbeing. A 2008 study concluded that living near parks, woodlands or other open spaces helps to reduce inequalities, regardless of social class (Hartig 2008). It is important that this is viewed strategically, so that trees and green spaces are introduced as soon as possible, allowing them to mature and the benefits to be tangible as soon as possible.
  2. Building design should make the best possible use of natural light and ventilation rather than relying upon energy intensive heating and cooling systems which will help to ‘climate-proof’ the building. Incorporate renewable energy generation systems into buildings so that they can harness energy and use it.
  3. New buildings should be built with green roofs help to reduce water run off (and thus flooding risk), promote urban cooling and provide habitats for biodiversity. Old buildings could also be retrofitted with green roofs. They also provide additional wellbeing benefits by allowing occupants of the building to enjoy the green spaces that they provide.
  4. Follow the progress of the SCORCHIO project in Sheffield and develop good relationships with the people and institutions involved.

• Education campaigns at schools and colleges; engage with young people to help them understand the relationship between the environment and health and wellbeing. Schools should feature trees and green spaces, and consideration could be given to modifying schooling hours to reduce the impact of increasing temperatures.

• Catalyse the building of communities throughout the sub-region but especially within urban centres and areas of deprivation. Educate residents of the importance of energy conservation, climate change and its likely impacts. Provide people with the help and information they need to build resilience into their own lifestyles and those of their neighbours. By reducing vulnerability through improving levels of understanding, welfare will improve as people lead healthier lives and become more independent. 

• Early adoption of policies that restrict the removal of natural drainage or water retention capacity (for example paving over gardens) that exacerbate flood risk.

• Targeting vulnerable households and communities to improve the standard of insulation and reduce vulnerability to heat poverty; a factor of energy prices as much as the actual outside temperature. Overcome language barriers to explain climate change to minority groups, including its likely impacts and the adaptation steps can be taken.

• Effectively dealing with occupational heat stress could involve wider introduction of flexible working hours and home working policies. Innovation centres allow people to work effectively and remotely, without having to travel longer distances to work, or whilst ‘on-site’. They may well provide more comfortable working environments than large office buildings. Wider societal changes may be necessary, giving people more flexibility in their jobs and lifestyles. It is particularly important to address this in sub-regions such as West Yorkshire that are heavily urbanised and where the majority of residents work in large urban centres.

• Greatly improve accessibility by sustainable transport in Leeds and Bradford particularly; providing people with maximum mobility and reducing dependence upon cars. This would bring significant social benefits, help to control urban air pollution, and has the added benefit if improving overall levels of health and fitness if more people are walking and cycling.

• Improved public building design, especially for hospitals and care homes, so that they are able to maintain internal temperatures at comfortable levels during extreme temperature events. If possible, cooling should not be provided by air conditioning systems which use large sums of energy and further contribute to pollution and atmospheric warming. Buildings should use natural ventilation as far as possible and be constructed from materials that reflect rather than retain energy. Include green roofs, and make the best use possible of trees to provide shade.

• Organisations that provide mobile care services for people in the sub-region’s rural areas will need to be prepared to serve an increasing number of people in rural areas with increasing care requirements (i.e. the elderly). Levels of coverage will need to be improved, again focussed on rural areas, and contingencies put in place to deal with an increasing frequency of heat wave, flood and severe storm events.

• Raise air quality standards in city centres and ensure emissions from road transport and aircraft do not exceed specified limits.

 

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• Mechanisms introduced to speed compensation payments by insurers to home and business-owners who have been adversely affected by flooding. Slow pay-outs serve to greatly increase the mental stress endured by people recovering from flood or storm damage.

• Adoption of policies that restrict removal of natural drainage or water retention capacity (for example paving over gardens) that exacerbate flood risk.

• Work with rural communities and particularly vulnerable communities across the sub-region to raise awareness of climate change and its impacts. Provide people with the knowledge to be able to more effectively deal with extreme weather events and air pollution episodes. Develop schemes to foster and develop a community ‘spirit’, enhancing the building of resilience and reduce their dependence. Helping people to insulate their homes and ensuring rigid standards of more sustainable building practices into the future will aid adaptation to climate change.

• A significant change in the way that residents use and value water will allow savings to be made and greatly reduce the amount of wastage. Building designs should utilise rain water through capture and harvesting systems. Smart metering would help people to become aware of the amount of water that they consume and the costs, which should drive improved efficiency. Encouraging efficiency can be another way to build ‘resilience’ to future climatic change. The same applies to consumption of gas and electricity.

• Work to tackle the root causes of social and economic deprivation in Hull where an increasingly ageing population will be living.

• Urban planning in Hull should include as many possible measures to cool the urban environment (without being dependent upon energy-intensive cooling systems) during summer and especially heat wave conditions, in order to limit triggers for heat-related illness.

• Education campaigns at schools and colleges; engage with young people to help them understand the relationship between the environment and health and wellbeing. Schools should feature trees and green spaces, and consideration could be given to modifying schooling hours to reduce the impact of increasing temperatures.

• Improved public building design, especially for hospitals and care homes, so that they are able to maintain internal temperatures at comfortable levels during extreme temperature events. If possible, cooling should not be provided by air conditioning systems but through natural ventilation as far as possible and through using construction materials that reflect rather than retain energy. Include green roofs, and make the best possible of trees to provide shade. These buildings will also consume significantly less energy than standard contemporary designs, providing additional benefits to health and welfare services.

• Organisations that provide mobile care services for people in rural areas will need to be prepared to serve an increasing number of people in rural areas with increasing care requirements (i.e. the elderly). Levels of coverage will need to be improved, again focussed on rural areas, and contingencies put in place to deal with an increasing frequency of heat wave, flood and severe storm events.

 

 

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• Urban centres predominate in South Yorkshire with a substantial proportion of the sub-region’s population living in Sheffield, Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham. It will become increasingly difficult to hold urban temperatures at comfortable levels in the summer. Limiting summer maximum temperatures must not, however, be at the detriment of keeping people warm during the winter (i.e. buildings being too cold leading to additional heating). Summer cooling should not be dependent upon air conditioning systems. This would serve to exacerbate climate change through increased energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions. Rather, sympathetic urban an building design should make full use of modern technologies and natural heating and ventilation, The following should be given full consideration and incorporated into urban building design without delay:
  

1. Use trees and other vegetation widely throughout urban areas. Trees provide an extremely effective method of reducing surface temperatures, and also promote biodiversity. They have an important and often overlooked positive effect on mental health and wellbeing. A 2008 study concluded that living near parks, woodlands or other open spaces helps to reduce inequalities, regardless of social class (Hartig 2008). It is important that this is viewed strategically, so that trees and green spaces are introduced as soon as possible, allowing them to mature and the benefits to be tangible as soon as possible. Sheffield is already in a fortunate position due to the large number of trees and green spaces throughout the city. With over 175 woods and 2 million trees, the city promotes itself as ‘probably the most wooded city in England’ (Sheffield City Council, 2008).
2. New buildings should be built with green roofs to reduce water run off (and thus flooding risk), promote urban cooling and provide habitats for biodiversity. Old buildings could also be retrofitted with green roofs. They also provide additional wellbeing benefits by allowing occupants of the building to enjoy the green spaces.
3. The SCORCHIO project (detailed above) is being piloted in Sheffield. The outcomes of the project are of great relevance to this study and should be carefully considered by policy makers to inform appropriate adaptation measures for the city and indeed for urban centres throughout the Yorkshire and Humber Region. Combined with a large amount of woodland (10.4% by area), Sheffield will be in a good position to demonstrate the beneficial impacts to health and wellbeing from trees and access to green spaces.

• Promote and encourage resilience in communities that will not only help residents to deal with climate change and extreme events, but which will also contribute towards a healthier lifestyle with improved wellbeing. The Transition Towns initiative (www.transitiontowns.org) is an example of this. Greater community engagement and cohesion could also be achieved through emergency preparedness training and strategies at a more local level, so that vulnerable communities are aware of the risks they may face that are linked to climate change. For example, communities vulnerable to flooding, or living in homes vulnerable to extreme temperatures. Such an approach would have particular benefit in Sheffield as its population becomes older and in Rotherham where high levels of limiting long-term illness are prevalent.

• Retrofitting of homes to reduce vulnerability to fuel poverty. Vulnerable households and areas of deprivation should be targeted in particular. This will be a significant task, requiring large sums of money and strong local and regional leadership, to ‘future proof’ against future energy availability and costs.

• Work with all residents and businesses throughout the region to actively engage with them about climate change and its impacts. Education should cover the spectrum of environmental topics including waste, energy conservation, renewable energy production, sustainable transport, building resilience and community responses to climate change. Such an approach will help people feel empowered to face the challenges that climate change will present and in doing so. People left without an understanding of how to, or a means of, staying mobile with increasingly expensive fuel costs for example, will likely suffer from stress and other welfare problems.

• Greatly improve accessibility to sustainable transport throughout the region to provide people with maximum mobility without needing to be dependent upon cars. Reducing car dependence not only has significant social benefits (roads are very divisive in terms of community building) but also will help to control urban air pollution. It has the added benefit of improving overall levels of health and fitness if more people are walking and cycling.

• Gain a better understanding of the likely impacts on the care community from climate change through more research on the effects of increased temperatures and air pollution episodes on elderly and vulnerable people.

• Improved public building design, especially for hospitals and care homes, so that they are able to maintain internal temperatures at comfortable levels during extreme temperature events. If possible, cooling should not be provided by air conditioning systems which use large sums of energy and further contribute to atmospheric warming. Buildings should use natural ventilation as far as possible and be constructed from materials that reflect rather than retain energy. Include green roofs, and make the best possible use of trees to provide shade. These buildings will also consume significantly less energy than standard contemporary designs, providing additional benefits.

• Organisations that provide mobile care services for people in rural areas will need to be prepared to serve an increasing number of people in rural areas with increasing care requirements (i.e. the elderly). Levels of coverage will need to be improved, again focussed on rural areas, and contingencies put in place to deal with an increasing frequency of heat wave, flood and severe storm events.

 

 

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