London scoping - ukcip

Climate Impact Adaptation Options
Living and Working
Conditions
Reducing building densities.
Final Report
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Changing building height, spacing and street orientation to increase shade.
Improving building and cooling system design including enhancing natural ventilation.
Use of trees and vegetation for shading.
Use of reflective materials.
Incorporation of large areas of vegetation and water features within urban landscape to
encourage cooling airflows.
Promote measures on the underground to deal with extreme heat situations.
Use of pumped groundwater as a cooling medium for the London Underground.
Increased use of water transport.
Higher insulation levels to protect buildings from increased temperatures and reduce
energy use in Winter.
Provision within developments of spaces for outdoor activities e.g. shared areas for
barbecues and entertainment.
Use of groundwater for cooling. The new GLA building uses a borehole groundwater
cooling system.
Make buildings with AC available to the public during hot spells as a refuge from high
temperatures.
Use of remote sensing techniques to detect movement due to subsidence.
Changes to the frequency of waste collection as higher temperatures may produce more
rapid decay and associated odours
Some of these measures could be incorporated in the GLA’s planned SPG on sustainable
buildings.
Air Quality New fiscal and voluntary initiatives to control emissions (Low emission zones).
Traffic restrictions.
Improved public transport.
Incentives to promote car sharing.
Pollution warning services.
Inventories of pollution sources.
Monitoring of key pollutants and relevant weather variables.
Biodiversity Development and protection of ‘green corridors’ e.g. river corridors, to facilitate migration of
climate sensitive species
Protection of green and open spaces
Recognition of biodiversity hotspots with associated protection designation
Introduction of new facilities to treat polluted water from CSOs during heavy rainfall.
Use of softer engineering solutions to flood defence.
Education Climate change can be an interesting and informative topic for the curriculum. It covers a
range of topics and can be approached quantitatively and qualitatively.