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Abstract The Kowloon Peninsula, an urban area of Hong Kong, might be one of the most studied cities in terms of urban climate in the world. Both annual mean urban air temperature and humidity have been on the rise following the continual increase in the building volume and continual reduction in the average wind speed in the urban canopy layer. The observed urban warming and humidifying phenomena are a direct result of the city form (i.e., the city shape and size), including the building height and density. We call for a system-of-systems approach to be adopted in urban climate studies. 

Abstract Humans exist as part of social-ecological systems (SES) in which biological, physical, chemical, economic, political and other social processes are tightly interwoven. Global change within these systems presents an increasingly untenable situation for long-term human security. Further, knowledge that humans possess about ourselves and SES represents a complex amalgamation of individual and collective factors. Because of various evolutionary pressures, people often reject this complex reality in favor of more simplistic perceptions and explanations. This thought paper offers an overview of how and where people acquire knowledge and how that knowledge acquisition process reflects and influences narratives, which subsequently affect efforts to address challenges in SES. We highlight three narratives as examples of constraints on finding ways forward toward a more resilient future. Our focal narratives include tendencies to conflate tame and wicked problems; to posit a false human-nature duality; and to resist the explanatory evidence from biocultural evolution. We then discuss the human cognitive propensity to create narratives to think about how we might intentionally develop narratives that are more appropriate for living in coevolving SES. 

This study explores the factors that enable cities to navigate renewable energy (RE) transitions despite limited state support, using a qualitative case study of 13 Florida cities committed to 100 % RE goals. Adapting the Transition Management framework to the U.S. federalist context, we find that local actors overcome state regime barriers through polycentric governance. Local governments leverage their policymaking autonomy and dedicated sustainability offices to institutionalize RE efforts and implement local policy changes to support RE. Nonprofits not only act as advocates and information providers, but also serve as consultants to shape local policies and lead regional collaboration to secure external funding for RE, filling the gap left by the absence of state support. Additionally, local governments, utilities and nonprofits utilize diverse financing mechanisms for RE projects and choose RE and complementary technologies based on local financial and technical capacities. Energy justice principles are embedded in local programs and policymaking processes to promote distributional and procedural justice, and some of these efforts are driven by federal policies or non-state actors. These findings offer valuable insights into sustainable and equitable RE transitions, demonstrating the potential for local action to drive substantial progress, even in the absence of state-level support.