Climate change and risk management in shopping centers and other commercial structures in urban areas.

The disruption of temperatures at a global and local level directly impacts the city and the users and more particularly vulnerable people such as children and the elderly at any time of the day and during all seasons.

The architecture of the city and the quality of its spaces influence the intensity of the effects of heat islands and can, in the case of strong heat such as the heat wave of 2003 in France, cause material and human damage. For example, severe heat waves accompanied by heat island effects can affect urban transport networks and cause engine failures and fires due to overheating. Similarly, the mortality rate of vulnerable people such as children and the elderly is higher in cities during heat waves than in the countryside. 2022 has been the hottest year ever noted with 33 days of heat waves and 11000 deaths due to heat in France. We’ve had 17 heat waves between 1947 and 2000 and 27 heat waves since the year 2000, and it is expected to double till 2050. (L’atelier de la transition - Halte à la surchauffe urbaine - Aupa Agence d'urbanisme Pays d'Aix - Durance)

Shopping centers in dense urban or peri-urban areas today represent major potential for transformation and densification. Faced with issues of climate change and adaptation as well as new laws and regulations, cities can no longer look away from these areas.

The city, being a global system composed of different microsystems, cannot therefore function and adapt without considering all its components, notably shopping centers. These shopping centers have long been criticized for their sparse urban form favoring the use of cars and their large asphalt parking spaces. Faced with current and future climate issues, as well as the dynamics of densification and restructuring and the needs and demands of customers, shopping centers must review their operating models.

Some shopping centers have managed to move beyond their primary uses and become main areas participating in natural and/or climate crisis management. For instance, Walmart in the United States during Hurricane Sandy which devastated the northwest, and other chains such as Home Depot and Lowe's have set up recharging stations and stock distribution areas directly after the disaster, to provide electricity, water and food for those who have been affected.

In this study the focus is on analyzing different responses to natural hazards with a multidimensional approach to understand what can be done and how can it be done in places such as shopping centers. We will be focusing on the representation of the classic mode of operation of these commercial centers that constitutes a system functioning on its own but still linked to the city at the same time. Therefore, this work aims to identify how, in the event of a crisis or a climate risk, this system can be called upon and reused beyond its primary function.

 

Keywords: shopping mall redevelopment, New Urbanism, metropolitan area, sustainable development, risk management, crisis management center, climate refuge, system planning, climate change.