Sustainable urbanity and urban climate change: amelioration of UHI's as a quality-of-life agenda for tropical megacities

The urban heat island effect exemplifies the pressing environmental problems facing rapidly growing tropical mega-cities. These cities are doubly disadvantaged due to the already oppressive heat made worse by the deteriorating urban climate and, being largely cities of the developing world, they lack financial resources and political will to re-direct urban growth towards a qualitatively more favorable outcome. A planning approach to ameliorate the urban climate change offers a tangible starting point for action that enhances the quality-of-life of urban dwellers which in turn may set the stage for greater receptivity to global change action.