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Changing urban risk: 140 years of climatic hazards in New York City

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  • Yaella Depietri

    (The New School)

  • Timon McPhearson

    (The New School
    Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
    Stockholm University)

Abstract

Weather-related disasters are on the rise. The causes, whether driven by climate change or changes in exposure and vulnerability of social-ecological-technological systems are still uncertain. Here, we address this issue with an in-depth study of the variability in climate-related extreme events which have impacted New York City (NYC) over the past 140 years. NYC has not historically been viewed as a particularly hazard prone region. However, this perspective is changing, particularly after the disastrous consequences of Hurricane Sandy (2012). We constructed a systematic database of impactful climatic events and assessed multi-sector impacts. Results indicate that hazards have systematically affected the city, with heat waves as the deadliest events and hurricanes as the costliest. We analyzed climatic hazard trends focusing on heat waves and flooding only, since data for these events are available over the full-time frame of the study. We then examined impacts of the most severe of these two hazards using data from The New York Times. Our analyses show that flooding and heat wave extreme events have regularly affected the city over its history with a trend toward increasing mean number of hazards per decade. We highlight a trend of decreased mortality due to heat waves over time and increase in the impacts of heavy precipitation, primarily related to the expansion of the transportation system and potentially to climate change over this time period. We suggest that, especially in urban areas of developed countries such as NYC, changes in built up infrastructure may be the primary drivers of risk to natural hazards.

Suggested Citation

  • Yaella Depietri & Timon McPhearson, 2018. "Changing urban risk: 140 years of climatic hazards in New York City," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 95-108, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:148:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-018-2194-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-018-2194-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Barbara Neumann & Athanasios T Vafeidis & Juliane Zimmermann & Robert J Nicholls, 2015. "Future Coastal Population Growth and Exposure to Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Flooding - A Global Assessment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-34, March.
    2. Toya, Hideki & Skidmore, Mark, 2007. "Economic development and the impacts of natural disasters," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 20-25, January.
    3. Beniston, Martin, 2007. "Linking extreme climate events and economic impacts: Examples from the Swiss Alps," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 5384-5392, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Fei Huo & Li Xu & Yanping Li & James S. Famiglietti & Zhenhua Li & Yuya Kajikawa & Fei Chen, 2021. "Using big data analytics to synthesize research domains and identify emerging fields in urban climatology," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), January.
    2. Peter S. Larson & Carina Gronlund & Lyke Thompson & Natalie Sampson & Ramona Washington & Jamie Steis Thorsby & Natalie Lyon & Carol Miller, 2021. "Recurrent Home Flooding in Detroit, MI 2012–2020: Results of a Household Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-16, July.
    3. Chrysaida-Aliki Papadopoulou & Maria P. Papadopoulou & Chrysi Laspidou, 2022. "Implementing Water-Energy-Land-Food-Climate Nexus Approach to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Greece: Indicators and Policy Recommendations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-21, March.

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