Wpływ zmian klimatu na środowisko zabudowane

Abstract

We are currently in the period of an intensive climate change, resulting from changes in the heat balance of the earth’s surface and causing an increase in the temperature of the lower troposphere levels. According to the latest IPCC report of 2021, it is human activity that has indisputably caused the increase in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, responsible for this process. The consequences of climate change under Polish conditions, apart from a rise in temperature especially in the spring and winter months, are also changes in the amount and distribution of precipitation totals. A slight increase in precipitation totals is observed, however heavy rainfall is significantly more frequent, interspersed with periods of droughts and heatwaves. Ground frost-free periods are prolonged, and a negative trend in the duration and thickness of snow cover is recorded in most parts of the country. Although extreme phenomena occurring in Poland are permanently inscribed in its climatic conditions, the threat of strong winds has been increasing in recent years, and the intense precipitation that often accompanies them is the cause of peak discharges and flooding. Forecasts for progressive climate change are not optimistic, either on a global scale or for the country in question. The article examines the impact of climate change on the design, construction and maintenance of engineering structures globally and for Poland. Changes in design standards, selected examples of disasters and solutions to adapt and build resilience to climate change have been analysed. For most building disasters, climatic factors were the direct cause of the disaster, although in the course of the analysis it has usually turned out that the disasters exposed human errors in the design, construction and, to a lesser extent, the improper maintenance of engineering structures. However, there is an increasing number of new approaches to creating a climate change resilient built environment, including the latest one, which proposes to use the grey infrastructure of cities to build resilience to climate change.