Spring 2024 Speaker Series
Climate Lessons for Our Cities: Global Perspectives on Climate Change in Urban Environments
This spring, the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA) and the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center are hosting a series of presentations from global scholars and practitioners who are experts in climate related topics and their impacts on urban areas.
Cities of today need to make substantial investments to address the escalating challenges related to climate change. Nature-based solutions, such as green infrastructure, are increasingly implemented for both mitigation and adaptation. For example, green walls can reduce energy needs while at the same time cool the microclimate reducing heat related morbidity and mortality. Interestingly, many nature-based solutions also provide numerous health co-benefits and research even suggests that people live longer in green neighborhoods.
This talk will provide an overview over the current state of the art regarding the physical and mental health impacts of urban green spaces and discuss how nature-based solutions may contribute to healthy urban development.
Dr. Matilda van den Bosch (MD, PhD) is a Senior Researcher at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Spain, and at the European Forest Institute Biocities Facility, Rome, Italy. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Her goal is to contribute to evidence-based policies and practice that acknowledge and support the interdependence between a healthy planet and healthy people.
Being a physician, she is a pioneer in the research around the beneficial impacts of nature on health and she is the primary editor of the first textbook on the topic, published by the Oxford University Press. Matilda is leading several international research projects related to climate change mitigation, childhood health, and nature-based solutions and she advises various international organizations, including the World Health Organization and the UN Environmental Programme.
Click on the image above for the PDF flyer.
