New NERC project: Mapping climate change vulnerability of ageing populations in global cities

UCL IEDE is a leading academic partner in a new NERC-funded research project aiming to  investigate the seasonal health and climate change resilience of ageing urban populations and develop vulnerability indices for selected global cities that will help prioritise targeted responses.

Dr Anna Mavrogianni and Prof Mike Davies from UCL IEDE will be contributing to the collaborative NERC / Arup Global Research Challenge funded project entitled ‘SHARPER’ (Seasonal Health, Ageing and Resilience in urban Populations and EnviRonments). The project, which started in December 2014, is led by Arup and involves academic and industry partners from UCL, King’s College London, Climate UK, HelpAge International and the Satellite Catapult. The key objectives of the project are:

1. To establish a network of interested collaborators, collate relevant datasets and develop vulnerability indices relating to the health impacts of extreme weather events and climate change, for ageing and elderly populations in three global cities: London, New York and Shanghai.
2. To compile sufficient data to build up a picture of the relevant social, environmental and economic factors that may contribute to the vulnerability, health and resilience of ageing and elderly populations in each city.
3. To develop vulnerability indices and establish thresholds using the collated data, which will aid the design of measures relating to planning, design and management of the urban environment and services, which will increase the health and resilience of urban elderly populations.