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Cited by 149Climate Change and Health ImpactsUrban Heat Island MitigationAir Quality and Health Impacts

Economic valuation of temperature-related mortality attributed to urban heat islands in European cities

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Huang, Wan Ting Katty, Masselot, Pierre, Bou-Zeid, Elie, Fatichi, Simone, Paschalis, Athanasios, Sun, Ting, Gasparrini, Antonio, Manoli, Gabriele·2023·Nature Communications
DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-43135-zPMC PMC10656443
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Abstract

As the climate warms, increasing heat-related health risks are expected, and can be exacerbated by the urban heat island (UHI) effect. UHIs can also offer protection against cold weather, but a clear quantification of their impacts on human health across diverse cities and seasons is still being explored. Here we provide a 500 m resolution assessment of mortality risks associated with UHIs for 85 European cities in 2015-2017. Acute impacts are found during heat extremes, with a 45% median increase in mortality risk associated with UHI, compared to a 7% decrease during cold extremes. However, protracted cold seasons result in greater integrated protective effects. On average, UHI-induced heat-/cold-related mortality is associated with economic impacts of €192/€ − 314 per adult urban inhabitant per year in Europe, comparable to air pollution and transit costs. These findings urge strategies aimed at designing healthier cities to consider the seasonality of UHI impacts, and to account for social costs, their controlling factors, and intra-urban variability.

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  • Heat-related mortality is strongly associated with extreme hot periods, especially in cities, where the urban environment can further increase thermal stress.

    “Recent studies have revealed that heat-related mortality is strongly associated with extreme hot periods, especially in cities, where the urban environment can further increase thermal stress [1-3].”

    From GPU-Accelerated Deep Learning for Heatwave Prediction and Urban Heat Risk Assessment (2026) · cites this paper as [3]

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Authors
Huang, W. T. K., Masselot, P., Bou-Zeid, E., Fatichi, S., Paschalis, A., Sun, T., Gasparrini, A., & Manoli, G.
Affiliations
  • Met Office (GB)
  • London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
  • Princeton University (US)
  • National University of Singapore (SG)
  • Imperial College London (GB)
  • University College London (GB)
Corresponding author
Manoli, Gabriele
ORCID
Venue
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2023-11-17
Volume
14
Issue
1
Pages
7438-7438
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41467-023-43135-z
PMC
PMC10656443
OpenAlex
W4388772553
Cited by
149
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 55 · 2025: 57 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 2
FWCI
17.07
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (Branco Weiss Fellowship)
  • Met Office (Hadley Centre Climate Programme)
  • United States Department of Defense | United States Army | U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command | Army Research Office (W911NF2010216)
  • National University of Singapore (22-3637-A0001)
  • RCUK | Natural Environment Research Council (NE/S003495/1, NE/P018637/2)
  • RCUK | Medical Research Council (MR/V034162/1)
  • EC | Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (820655)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Climate Change and Health Impacts
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Urban Heat Island Mitigation
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Air Quality and Health Impacts
Keywords
urban heat island, heat-related mortality, cold-related mortality, economic valuation, extreme heat, cold extremes, seasonal variation, European cities, intra-urban variability, health impacts of climate change, healthy cities
MeSH terms
Cities, Climate, Hot Temperature, Humans, Seasons, Temperature

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