Development of an urban resilience indicator for Athens in the context of climate change

Urbanization interacts with climate change through the way cities are organized and built (land cover/ land use, urban morphology). Increased energy consumption and consequently CO2 emissions, combined with emissions from city functions (urban metabolism, anthropogenic heat sources) intensify urban climate change. The effects from more frequent extreme weather events and natural disasters etc. are already observed in cities in multiple spatial and temporal scales. Especially for the Athens basin, there has been an urban expansion of 28% from 1987 to 2010, a burden on human thermal comfort and a deterioration of the thermal environment in the suburban areas leading to social and economic inequalities within the urban complex of Athens. The above highlight the necessity to develop an Urban Resilience Indicator (URI) as well as its spatial and temporal mapping over the Athens Basin. The indicator is based on the use of Earth Observation and census data and it allows the identification of urban units that exhibit limited resilience to climate change and the related factors. Moreover, the URI mapping will allow the identification of specific interventions that enhance resilience to climate change and the drafting of comprehensive plans for adapting and mitigating urban climate change.