Heat Vulnerability, Poverty and Health Inequalities in Urban Migrant Communities: A Pilot Study from Vienna

Abstract

Climate change is projected to further increase heat waves in number, intensity and duration over most land areas in the twenty-first century. Among the urban population persons with migrant background are particularly considered to be at risk during heat waves due to the intersection of several risk factors: social status (poverty, manual labour), residential area (densely populated, disadvantaged urban areas, heat islands) and health condition. In this chapter we pledge for a differentiated approach in studying heat-related health outcomes and present first descriptive outcomes of two explorative case studies of multi-generation-families in Vienna, comparing a family with Turkish migrant background with a family without migrant background. The data consists of participant observation and in-depth interviews and has been generated in the course of the research project “Vulnerability of and adaption strategies for migrant groups in urban heat environments (EthniCityHeat)” between June and September 2014.