Urgenche

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This page is about the project Urgenche. For the actual work done by the project, see Portal:Urgenche.

Urgenche is an EU funded research project starting in June 2011.

  • Acronym: URGENCHE
  • Project ID: 265114
  • Call: FP7-ENV-2010
  • Programme: FP7
  • Activity codes: ENV.2010.1.2.3-2

Abstract

Urban Reduction of GHG Emissions in China and Europe (URGENCHE)

In URGENCHE, a team of internationally recognised scientists in the areas of health risk assessment, urban energy demand and supply scenarios, urban planning, environmental science and epidemiology - in close collaboration with city partners in both Europe and China - develops and applies a methodological framework for the assessment of the overall risks and benefits of alternative greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction policies for health and well-being. These GHG reduction policies may affect public health in various ways, such as the choices made regarding the selection of fuels and means for space heating and transport, building codes to improve thermal efficiency, or urban development and zoning.

A methodological framework will be developed and applied. This framework considers GHG emission reductions of energy demand and supply and transport scenarios in urban areas, the effect of these policies, and subsequently the impacts on human health and well-being. The GIS-based approach takes into account the advances made in integrated assessment in a large range of studies in Europe over recent years (many with participation of the project partners). The impact on human health and well-being of GHG policies may be the result of changes in exposure patterns of the urban population to environmental contaminants such as ambient and indoor air pollution as well as changes in housing, urban green spaces, workplaces, transport and lifestyles. Distribution of the impacts across different socioeconomic groups will be addressed.

Results will be demonstrated for the year 2030 on a business-as-usual and two GHG emission reduction scenarios with emphasis on transport and buildings. URGENCHE will deliver a validated, methodological framework to assess urban GHG policies with the greatest co-benefits for health and well-being in cities ranging in population from 50,000 to 10 million, across various climatological conditions and differences in socio-economic background.

Motivation

Press release, 13 June 2011

Healthy planet, healthy people?

A major new research project will examine how policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions could impact human health, it has been announced today.

Led by the University of Exeter the three year €3.5 million programme of research will involve experts from 17 institutions across eight countries.

Funded by the European Union under Framework Programme Seven (FP7) and entitled Urban Reduction of GHG Emissions in China and Europe (URGENCHE), the project will focus on how policies could affect all aspects of human health and wellbeing in urban environments.

It will focus on seven cities across Europe and China as case studies. These range in geography, climate and size, from Xi’an in China, home to more than 8 million people, through to Kuopio in Finland which has a population of less than 100,000.

Professor Clive Sabel, from the University of Exeter’s Geography department and European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH) and leader of the project, said: “If we don’t start reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cities, the planet will get hotter and hotter, but every policy to tackle those emissions has a potentially profound effect on human health.

“That could be positive or negative, so in order to make that assessment we have to look at all the evidence and relate that to the on-the-ground technical, social, economic, political and cultural realities. This research aims to integrate data from a large variety of sources to inform key policy decisions to ensure city life is a healthy, positive experience that is sustainable for the future of our planet.”

The European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH), part of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, will also be taking part in the research. Professor Lora Fleming, Director of the centre, said: “One of the unique strengths of this study is the cross cultural comparisons of approaches across many nations, both developing and developed. Climate change is a global environment and human health issue which must be addressed on both local and international levels. This study will help provide some of these future approaches.”

The research will look ahead to 2030 and 2080 to see what the impact would be if various carbon reduction policies would be, particularly in context of a warming climate where issues such as heat stress and water availability will become more prevalent.

Polices under consideration will include everything from encouraging more bicycle use to designing new megacities. Specific areas of research will fall under themes such as looking at building stock, city transport, and methods of calculating human health and wellbeing.

Professor Sabel added: "Even with fairly simple policies, such as encouraging people to take journeys by bicycle, there are lots of factors to consider. It’s not just that there would be less traffic on the roads and less greenhouse gas emissions – those people riding their bikes may feel fitter and happier too.

"However, they could also be breathing in harmful fumes and be at greater risk from other road users. All of these things have to be considered in context to the city in question to decide whether policies are appropriate and beneficial."

Socio-economic issues will also be a key consideration in assessing impact. The lowest socio-economic groups are usually the most exposed to urban health risks because they often reside, go to work and school in the areas of the highest ambient air pollution. Even when this is not the case, the indoor air quality experienced by these groups may still be inferior due to poor building quality, crowding, heating and ventilation.

It is thought that the burdens and benefits of different greenhouse gas reduction policies may affect socio-economic groups differently, and the research will consider the full impacts of policies.

One of the key outcomes of the research will be to provide city planners and decision makers with vital tools and information needed to understand the implications of planning decisions.

The research could inform how cities are developed in the future and, in the developing world, how they are designed from scratch.

Professor Mike Depledge from ECEHH said: “At the moment human health isn’t a major factor in city planning, yet the way buildings, developments, or cities are planned can have a huge impact on health. This research will lay the foundations to make sure that the planning process is much more joined up.

"In China they are building new megacities from the ground up – so this is an ideal opportunity to inform that process."

The research will be a part of the University of Exeter’s Climate Change and Sustainable Futures research theme.

Work is due to start on the project in September this year.


Cities to be studied:

  • Suzhou, China
  • Xi’an, China
  • Basel, Switzerland
  • Kuopio, Finland
  • Rotterdam, Netherlands
  • Stuttgart, Germany
  • Thessaloniki, Greece

Participants

List of participants:

Participant no. Participant abbreviation Participant organisation name Country
1 (coordinator) UExeter University of Exeter United Kingdom
2 CSuzhou City of Suzhou China
3 CXi'an City of Xi'an China
4 CBasle City of Basel Switzerland
5 CKuopio City of Kuopio Finland
6 DCMR City of Rotterdam The Netherlands
7 CStutt City of Stuttgart Germany
8 UPek Peking University China
9 UNanj Nanjing University China
10 CERTH Centre for Research and Technology Hellas Greece
11 IOM Institute of Occupational Medicine United Kingdom
12 SYKE Suomen Ymparistokeskus Finland
13 THL Terveyden ja Hyvinvoinnin Laitos Finland
14 TNO Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk The Netherlands
15 UStutt Universitaet Stuttgart Germany
16 STI Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (an associated Institute of University Basel) Switzerland
17 WHO World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe Denmark/Germany/Italy

The European Centre for the Environment and Human Health (part of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry which is a joint entity of the University of Exeter, the University of Plymouth and the NHS in the South West) is supported by investment from the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) Convergence Programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry is a partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall.

See also

Urgenche research project 2011 - 2014: city-level climate change mitigation
Urgenche pages

Urgenche main page · Category:Urgenche · Urgenche project page (password-protected)

Relevant data
Building stock data in Urgenche‎ · Building regulations in Finland · Concentration-response to PM2.5 · Emission factors for burning processes · ERF of indoor dampness on respiratory health effects · ERF of several environmental pollutions · General criteria for land use · Indoor environment quality (IEQ) factors · Intake fractions of PM · Land use in Urgenche · Land use and boundary in Urgenche · Energy use of buildings

Relevant methods
Building model · Energy balance · Health impact assessment · Opasnet map · Help:Drawing graphs · OpasnetUtils‎ · Recommended R functions‎ · Using summary tables‎

City Kuopio
Climate change policies and health in Kuopio (assessment) · Climate change policies in Kuopio (plausible city-level climate policies) · Health impacts of energy consumption in Kuopio · Building stock in Kuopio · Cost curves for energy (prioritization of options) · Energy balance in Kuopio (energy data) · Energy consumption and GHG emissions in Kuopio by sector · Energy consumption classes (categorisation) · Energy consumption of heating of buildings in Kuopio · Energy transformations (energy production and use processes) · Fuels used by Haapaniemi energy plant · Greenhouse gas emissions in Kuopio · Haapaniemi energy plant in Kuopio · Land use in Kuopio · Building data availability in Kuopio · Password-protected pages: File:Heat use in Kuopio.csv · Kuopio housing

City Basel
Buildings in Basel (password-protected)

Energy balances
Energy balance in Basel · Energy balance in Kuopio · Energy balance in Stuttgart · Energy balance in Suzhou


Keywords

Climate change, decision analysis, city-level decision making, Europe, China

References


Related files

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