Pierre Vincent
The effect of climate change on urban configurations
Abstract :
Climate change is having a particular impact on cities, exacerbating the urban heat island. Detectable in many large cities, urban heat islands (UHI) have serious consequences on health, productivity and energy consumption. Policy measures to reduce UHI, such as greening and urban regeneration, are slow to be implemented and insufficient. Thus, to avoid negative effects of UHI, households might implement adaptation strategies, especially in terms of choice of location, impacting urban configurations. The aim of my research project is to identify the effect of the UHI on urban configurations. My master’s thesis deals with this subject. My analysis is divided into two parts: a theoretical part and an empirical part. In the theoretical part, I use the urban monocentric model, in which I include the UHI as a dis-amenity, to show tthe effect of UHI on urban configurations. In the empirical part, I study the impact of UHI on housing prices empirically, through a spatial regression discontinuity design on housing prices. I use an original dataset on UHI provided by the Mapuce project. The empirical analysis did not reveal a significant impact of UHI on housing prices. My thesis project is a continuation of my Master’s thesis, and aims to study in greater depth the links between UHI and urban configurations.