Human wellbeing in rural and urban areas

Climate change tests the ability of individuals to perceive physical and mental well-being conditions in daily life, especially in the context of large urban settlements. The urban microclimate is highly influenced by the physical processes related to the occupation of soils by artificial areas. The high spatio-temporal resolution and last generation climate simulations adopted in HIGHLANDER allow to reproduce the interactions between atmosphere and surface taking into account the land cover with high spatial detail, especially thanks to information derived from satellite images, which are able to distinguish the land use distribution for civil, industrial and agricultural purposes from naturally vegetated areas.
Starting from the current distribution of land use and therefore the presence of densely populated or rural areas, the expected changes in those climate conditions – in particular heat and humidity – more or less comfortable for the population, will be studied.