Government is expected to lead the payment of heat-resilient infrastructure

Bao-Jie He; Mingqiang Yin

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106566

Government is expected to lead the payment of heat-resilient infrastructure

iScience. 2023 Apr 11;26(5):106566. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106566. eCollection 2023 May 19.

Authors

Bao-Jie He^{1

2

3

4

5}, Mingqiang Yin^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Climate-Resilient and Low-Carbon Cities, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University, Shapingba, Chongqing 400045, China.
² Institute for Smart City of Chongqing University in Liyang, Chongqing University, Liyang 213300, Jiangsu, China.
³ Key Laboratory of New Technology for Construction of Cities in Mountain Area, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building Science, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510640, China.
⁵ Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability (NERPS), Hiroshima University, Hiroshima 739-8530, Japan.

Abstract

Urban heat is severe in numerous cities, but the urgency of heat action and support for the development of heat-resilient infrastructure is unclear. To address these research gaps, this study investigated the perceived urgency of developing heat-resilient infrastructure and associated payment issues in eight megacities, in China using a questionnaire survey of 3758 respondents in August 2020. Overall, the respondents thought it was moderately urgent to take actions to address heat-related challenges. The development of mitigation and adaptation infrastructure is urgent. About 86.4% of the 3758 respondents expected the government to be involved in paying for heat-resilient infrastructure, but 41.2% supported cost-sharing among the government, developers, and owners. There were 1299 respondents willing to pay, resulting in an average annual payment of 44.06 RMB in a conservative scenario. This study is important for decision-makers to formulate plans on heat-resilient infrastructure and to release financial strategies for collecting investments and funds.

Keywords: Environmental policy; Social sciences; Urban planning.