Climate risk assessment in Slovakia: Key findings on urban areas

Abstract

From global to local scale, climate change poses a significant challenge in the 21st century. Due to the specifics of the urban environment, the effects of climate change on cities are more prominent. However, Slovak research on urban climate risk, including vulnerability to climate change, is relatively fragmented and underdeveloped. Therefore, this paper aims to address this gap by conducting a comprehensive climate risk assessment encompassing all Slovak cities and multiple impacts of climate change (extreme heat, drought, extreme precipitation) while focusing on geographic patterns. Notably, our study provides a new typology and focuses on the most and least endangered Slovak cities by climate change. By incorporating climate risk levels and indices derived from socio-demographic, physical, and climatological data, this paper serves as a critical resource for fostering climate risk management capacity in Slovak cities, providing valuable insights for academia, policymakers, and urban planners.