Mattia Federico Leone

This paper proposes a methodology for identifying and designing Climate Shelters, precisely permanent urban infrastructures capable of mitigating heatwave effects and generating social, energy, and environmental co-benefits. The framework integrates technical, environmental, and functional indicators with GIS and Algorithm Aided Design tools in order to transform existing spaces into resilience and neighbourhood service nodes. The application of the methodology to Naples’ SECAP demonstrates how climate shelters contribute to reducing energy poverty and developing inclusive urban networks. The Bagnoli case study highlights the methodology’s capacity to translate strategic objectives into concrete design solutions, strengthening the role of public space in climate adaptation.

Climate-resilient land-use planning increasingly requires methods that can translate heterogeneous climate-risk knowledge into actionable territorial recommendations. This study develops the Hazard–Sector Translation Framework, a planning-oriented method for linking regional hazard pathways with affected territorial systems, land-use domains, recommendation families, planning instruments, and resilience functions. The framework was developed through a qualitative cross-regional synthesis of five Southern European regions: Sicily, Costa del Sol, Osijek-Baranja County, Central Greece, and the Troodos Mountain Range. The analysis identifies how diverse hazard pathways, including heat, drought, water scarcity, pluvial flooding, wildfire, hail, frost risk, and tourism climate-suitability pressures, become actionable through recurring land-use domains. Results show that heterogeneous regional risks converge around five main land-use resilience domains: buildings, agriculture, blue-green infrastructure, transportation, and protected-area conservation, while governance and capacity are treated separately as cross-cutting implementation conditions. The operational matrix demonstrates how region-specific hazard pathways can be converted into traceable recommendation structures without reducing local complexity. The framework does not replace detailed hazard modeling or climate-risk assessment; rather, it provides an intermediate methodological bridge between climate-risk evidence and land-use planning action. The approach is transferable to other regions seeking to organize stakeholder-derived needs and adaptation recommendations into coherent, sector-specific planning responses.

Green and Blue Infrastructure (GBI) is increasingly addressed within climate adaptation and mitigation policies as a strategic operational measure for reducing climate-related impacts in urban environments. However, GBI effectiveness relies strictly on the biophysical condition of natural assets and on the capacity to monitor and interpret ecosystem processes over time, specifically vegetation quality and its physiological response to climatic stressors within complex urban fabrics. This variability emphasizes the need to integrate ecosystem performance into decision-making through digital frameworks capable of quantifying and accounting for ecological resources across temporal scales. In this context, Remote Sensing (RS) technologies provide a structured informational basis for assessing vegetation health and surface thermal patterns in relation to climatic stress thresholds and human exposure. This paper presents a policy-aligned geospatial evidence framework to bridge the gap between environmental monitoring and urban climate action. By integrating high-resolution multispectral remote sensing with heterogeneous spatial datasets and climate models, the framework enables the multitemporal assessment of ecological conditions to inform where GBI measures can support SECAP implementation, project refinement, and monitoring activities. Developed within the Horizon Europe KNOWING project and applied to the Naples East district, Italy, the framework was operationalized within the city’s Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP). The application produces scenario-oriented outputs for interpreting the potential contribution of GBI and NbS measures to outdoor heat-stress reduction under SECAP conditions. Its practical value lies in translating biophysical data into reusable GIS/WMS layers that connect ecological performance, climate exposure, socio-energetic vulnerability, and planned urban transformations, thereby supporting SECAP implementation, project refinement, and monitoring.

Framed within a systemic approach, this chapter discusses key elements for a sustainable, resilient, and carbon-neutral urban transformation. It focuses on solutions that can accelerate action across four transformation realms: land and ecosystems; physical infrastructure; urban resource inflows and outflows; and socioeconomic and governance structures. The chapter discusses how land planning and zoning can support local responses to climate change, addressing both adaptation and mitigation, and reviews the role of urban and peri-urban ecosystems, emphasizing their contributions to urban ecosystem services and health. The chapter then examines the role of urban infrastructure, highlighting solutions and co-benefits. This section addresses the potential of interventions at the urban scale from the perspective of the integrated provision of public services. The emphasis is placed on strategies that promote resource use reduction, efficiency, and circularity, given their centrality to sustainable, carbon-neutral, and resilient cities. It also addresses the role of urban social infrastructure in connecting governance innovation and socioeconomic transformation grounded in justice, equity, and responsiveness to local priorities.

As climate change impacts intensify across Europe and globally, societies are confronted with increasingly frequent and severe hazards that challenge public health, urban livability, and environmental sustainability. While adaptation measures are urgently needed to cope with current and near-term climate risks, it is becoming increasingly evident that mitigation efforts are essential to ensure a resilient and sustainable future. Too often, however, adaptation and mitigation strategies are planned and implemented in isolation, within sectoral silos, overlooking their potential interdependencies, synergies, and co-benefits. This contribution draws on the on-going experience and perspectives of the EU-funded healthRiskADAPT project, which addresses climate-related health risks by explicitly linking adaptation and mitigation pathways across multiple hazards.The project adopts a broad and integrated perspective that combines existing technical solutions, nature-based interventions, and engagement strategies, with a strong emphasis on co-benefits for health and well-being in the face of climate hazards namely heatwaves, air pollution including wildfire emission, and pollen. Central to this framework is the use of cost–benefit and co-benefit analyses to support decision-makers in identifying, prioritizing, and implementing measures that maximize societal resilience while delivering climate resilience solutions, considering natural based solutions (e.g., greening) as well as technical solutions (e.g., smart-buildings, do-it-yourself air purifier devices, evaporative cooling, high efficiency filtering). Beyond technical assessments, the healthRiskADAPT project recognizes that increasing resilience requires engagement beyond institutional actors. Social solutions such as education, awareness-raising, and capacity building at the stakeholder level are considered essential components of effective climate strategies. The contribution therefore also explores participatory formats and stakeholder engagement approaches designed to enhance understanding of climate-related health risks and support the co-design of locally relevant policies and interventions.By presenting the project’s methodological pathways, tools, and engagement strategies, this contribution illustrates how integrated adaptation–mitigation planning can be operationalized in practice. It highlights the value of moving beyond sector-specific solutions toward systemic approaches that acknowledge complex interdependencies between climate, environment, health, and society. Ultimately, the contribution aims to demonstrate how such integrated frameworks can support cities and regions in developing more coherent, evidence-based, and socially inclusive climate policies, strengthening resilience in the face of a changing climate.

At a time when reducing emissions is becoming more urgent, and when climate impacts are intensifying, European regions and cities are grappling with the double challenge of planning climate mitigation and adaptation. Project KNOWING investigated how state-of-the-art scientific methods can be leveraged to assist the design of future pathways that integrate mitigation and adaptation interventions in a rational way. We present here the results of this investigation for the city of Naples, focusing on the emerging climate risks: from compound pluvial and coastal flooding, and from heatwaves. Starting from a process of stakeholder consultation and from the local SECAP plans, we defined a set of desirable mitigation and adaptation interventions. This were then simulated through specific domain models, including models of regional and urban climate, marine waves, compound flooding, health impacts, transport, energy supply and energy demand, behaviour. In addition, a model of system dynamics was implemented, to represent the key local processes that are relevant for climate impacts, mitigation and adaptation. Based on the results of both modelling approaches, we designed a local pathway of integrated mitigation and adaptation, which can serve to inform planning in the near and distant future.

Climate change and rising temperatures are established facts, forcing cities to face a reality to which they must adapt. "On June 28, 2019, a temperature of 45,9°C was recorded at a weather station in France, exceeding the country's previous temperature record; set during the infamous 2003 heatwave; by almost 2°C" (Mitchell, D & al. 2019). Several studies have also established that heatwaves were enhanced by human-induced climate change and activities (Mitchell, D & al. 2019). Therefore, it is crucial to develop clear local plans to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of these heatwaves, which are directly associated with increased heat-related mortality.This study aims to determine tools to analyze various cooling trajectories. It is centered on commercial areas, which are mostly vast territories on the outskirts of cities. These zones emerged around 1960, often at city entrances near highway interchanges, and are directly connected to regional or national roads (Verhetsel, A. 2019). They often include shopping centers where marketing and consumption dominate. The urbanization of the suburbs by middle class residents and the rise of car use contributed to their emergence. The principle of "no parking, no business" governs the spatial organization of these areas (Kervran, P. 2021). Therefore, commercial zones also contribute to the climate change adaptation trajectories of the city. The urban heat island effect is an important factor to consider when talking about climate change and heatwaves. Therefore, urban cooling strategies play a crucial role in studying climate change adaptation. Cities are very different in their organization, density, size, and history, but they all share a common denominator: human beings. Which also means that discussing thermal comfort for users, both during and outside of heatwaves is very important in urban areas (Abdollahzadeh, N., & Biloria, N. 2020; Aghamolaei, R. 2022). This raises other challenges, such as managing and maintaining the solutions implemented for climate adaptation. Also, several studies have shown many cooling solutions to be very effective and the ADEME (Agence de la transition écologique - Agency for ecological transition in France) has published a document presenting various solutions supported by measurements and data to combat urban overheating. It has classified them in three main groups : the nature-based "green and blue", the "gray" solutions, and the soft solutions. We can therefore say that effective solutions exist and that the current challenge lies primarily in more frequent implementation. However, for these solutions to function optimally and achieve urban cooling, it is necessary to consider the components of the larger urban system (ADEME, 2021). Also, to understand the functioning of a city, it is important to understand it's urban dynamics. These are often composed of interrelations around a decision-making center, with several overlapping urban components (PAULET Jean-Pierre, 2009).The overall goal of this study is to create a detailed understanding of how urban cooling solutions evolve over time, how they interact with stakeholders, and how they contribute to the urban system. Keywords: climate change, urban heat island, cooling solutions, trajectory, mitigation, adaptation, commercial areas.

The Urban Design Climate Workshops (UDCWs), developed by the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), are collaborative initiatives that bring together urban planners, scientists, policymakers, and communities to advance climate-resilient urban development. Introduced in 2015, UDCWs are rooted in scientific assessments from UCCRN’s climate reports (ARC3.2, 2018; ARC3.3, 2025) and aim to integrate climate mitigation and adaptation strategies with social, economic, and environmental co-benefits.UDCWs embed evidence-based approaches into standard urban planning and design. This process challenges the "business as usual" mindset, fostering climate resilience while ensuring equity and environmental justice. The methodology is data-driven and participatory, introducing as key components the concepts of urban climate factors - Efficiency of Urban Systems, Form and Layout, Building Envelope and Outdoor Surface Materials, Green and Blue Infrastructure - which identify the main drivers of anthropogenic carbon emissions and key features determining urban microclimate conditions.UDCWs employ scenario-based prototyping to develop urban design solutions that reduce energy consumption, enhance public spaces and ecosystem services, and strengthen climate adaption. The methodology combines simulation and facilitation tools, such as GIS and 3D modeling, to assess climate risks, map urban heat islands and flood zones, and quantify co-benefits like biodiversity and accessibility. Simultaneously, stakeholder engagement tools, including collaborative mapping and co-design workshops, ensure that proposed solutions are based on community knowledge and priorities.This multi-scale, interdisciplinary approach has been applied in global cities like New York, Rio de Janeiro, Durban, Paris, Naples, Barcelona, and Thessaloniki. UDCWs have been developed and refined through research projects including Erasmus+ “UCCRN_edu”, Horizon Europe “KNOWING” & “UP2030”, and NSF’s “City-as-Lab”. The UDCW framework represents a transformative step towards integrating climate science and urban action, fostering resilient, net-zero urban environments.

Climate change is reshaping urban systems, affecting buildings, infrastructure, natural systems, people and businesses while cities, in turn, drive climate change through high energy consumption and gas emissions (GHG) emissions from buildings, energy production, waste management, and transportation. Urban design is crucial for integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, yet existing environmental assessment frameworks and rating systems often address them separately, overlooking site-specific vulnerabilities and emission drivers.The proposed Integrated Urban Design Adaptation and Mitigation Assessment (IUDAMA) framework fills this gap by incorporating quantitative and qualitative Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to quantify built environment (BE) vulnerabilities and emission sources. These KPIs aim to guide designers in assessing and integrating adequate climate-responsive measures, supporting informed decision-making for resilient and low-carbon urban development. This has been applied to real case studies of master planning that focus on high-density mixed-use regeneration projects and high-rise mixed-use development in in different Local Climate Zones (LCZ) in order to evaluate climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in design scenarios for urban regeneration and new urban developments.The results suggest that KPIs that include multiple scales and risks are able to effectively assess the BEs capacity to simultaneously adapt and mitigate climate change. These KPIs should be prioritized throughout optioneering studies during planning, and the design stages. Massing, siting and orientation, as well as green, blue and grey solutions for buildings and open spaces, should be at the center of urban planning and design. These solutions future proof our cities and related assets, not only by limiting the risks from a changing climate and by reducing the GHG emissions but also by unlocking spaces for everyone for decades to come.

Urban areas face increasing challenges from climate change and require comprehensive approaches to address both mitigation and adaptation. The complexity of this integrated approach can be tackled through the adoption of digital enabling technologies in the realm of smart cities. In recent years, numerous Urban Digital Twins have been developed by cities worldwide to better support planners and designers with data, simulations, and visualizations.This study explores the integration of climate change mitigation and adaptation within Urban Digital Twins. The research identifies factors that are often overlooked in current implementations and provides guidelines for structuring Urban Digital Twin modules. By analyzing key functionalities and requirements, as well as insights from stakeholder interviews, this work highlights the potential of Urban Digital Twins in fostering holistically climate-proof urban development.Key findings emphasize the importance of incorporating climate-related variables across Urban Digital Twin functions to support decision-making in urban regeneration and new urban development projects. Despite challenges such as data integration, the proposed guidelines aim to inform future Urban Digital Twin development efforts, enhancing their role in planning and designing more resilient urban areas. The paper presents a case study on the Urban Digital Twin of Helsinki, outlining essential factors and their implications for urban climate-proof decision-making.