Publication: Targeted, Integrated, and Prepared Policy Packages to Address the Urban Heat in Korea: Policy Brief
Loading...
Published
2024-12-24
ISSN
Date
2024-12-24
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Global warming has dramatically increased the frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme heat events, or heatwaves. Exposure to extreme heat presents a wide range of challenges for public health, labor productivity, and economic growth, among other areas, which are often amplified in cities. Globally, recent deadly heatwaves attest to the urgency of the urban heat problem, which is growing with the ongoing expansion of urban populations and the progression of climate change. This policy brief examines the responses of the Republic of Korea to urban heat problems at national and city levels. Korea formally recognized heat as a natural disaster in 2018, which represented a significant milestone in institutionalizing urban heat interventions across various ministries and agencies. Guided by national frameworks, Korean cities, including Busan and Daegu, the two cities presented as cases in this brief, developed and implemented a package of complementary actions, consisting of legislation and planning, small-scale capital investments, and social programs. This comprehensive effort to address the urban heat agenda in Korea contributed to lowering local temperatures, reducing heat-related health costs by US173.22 million dollars, and reducing the heat related mortality rate by 72 percent compared to the counterfactual. The Korean experience can inform World Bank task teams and client cities and countries as they explore feasible entry points for refining and scaling up urban heat interventions in the coming years.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Lee, Hyunji; Park, Hogeun; Hasoloan, Jonathan; Chapman, Terri B.; Siri, Jose. 2024. Targeted, Integrated, and Prepared Policy Packages to Address the Urban Heat in Korea: Policy Brief. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/42583 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Combating Heat in Cities(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-25)This report stems from growing concern about the threat of extreme heat in urban settings and its adverse impacts on health. The team made use of the TIP—that is, the targeted, integrated, and prepared—framework, introduced in the recent "Healthy Cities" report (Lee et al. 2023), to help World Bank task teams explore pathways toward urban heat investments. This study gathered city responses and investigated existing World Bank initiatives to gain an understanding of what had already been done and the potential for future action. The main part of this report reviews the GPURL portfolio from 2012 to 2022, illustrating a spectrum of relevant heat interventions. Recommendations built on these findings highlight opportunities to operationalize urban heat in World Bank investments.Publication Healthy Cities(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-10-18)With most people already living in cities and the global urban population estimated to double by 2050, cities are central to human well-being and sustainable development. Whereas cities reap the economic and social benefits of agglomeration, proximity to services, and innovation, they also face significant health and environmental issues. The presence of urban poverty, complexity of urban systems, rapidity of often-unplanned urbanization, and certainty of unanticipated shocks complicate urban strategies for health and well-being. Indeed, COVID-19 revealed the significant vulnerability of global and urban systems to pandemics and the imminent climate-related impacts. Cities can confront these threats and support communities by integrating healthy city action with other urban development agendas and prioritizing human and ecosystem health in the design and management of urban environments. The Healthy Cities Report aims to provide high-level guidance to practitioners in green, inclusive, and resilient urban development while asserting the essential role of cities in improving human and ecosystem health. It introduces an action-oriented ‘TIP’ Framework for achieving healthy cities with three components: Targeted support, Integrated action, and Preparation for future challenges. It explores three pivotal modern issues—equity, climate change, and COVID-19—as they define the context for urban health policy and practice. The report suggests eight action areas for healthy cities, including adequate housing, public spaces, transportation systems, access to healthcare, water and sanitation systems, food systems, effective institutions, and sustainable funding.Publication Coping with the Cold : Heating Strategies for Eastern Europe and Central Asia's Urban Poor(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2002)Heating is a critical issue for the livelihoods of Eastern Europe and Central Asia's people. The region's gold climate, the legacy of central planning, and the drop in household incomes over the past 10 years, influence profoundly the design of heating strategies for the urban poor. This paper provides new insights into how much energy people demand for heating, and how much they pay for it. Recommendations are suggested on how to design policies, and investment planning, that would enable all people (poor and non-poor) to access clean, affordable heating.Publication Strengthening Policy Dialogue on Environment : Learning from Five Years of Country Environmental Analysis(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-02)The objective of this paper is to review experience with completed country environmental analysis (CEAs) to improve the effectiveness of CEAs as a strategic analytical tool. Through in-depth analysis of the process, methodologies, costs, and results of completed CEA pilots, the paper assesses how effective CEAs have been in informing and providing strategic guidance to the Bank and client countries on environment-development issues and the extent to which they have facilitated donor coordination. The analysis carried out in this paper also provides feedback on when to prepare a CEA, how to prepare and structure CEAs, and how to use specific methodologies and processes in influencing policy dialogue with partner countries. The findings are of potential interest to World Bank sector managers, country directors, CEA task teams, and environmental staff, but also to development partners who carry out work similar to CEAs. The paper is based on a desk review of completed CEAs and on interviews with task managers and members of CEA teams. Several reports, including a fieldwork-based assessment of the Ghana, India, and Guatemala CEAs commissioned by the Environment Department; a review on Tunisia by the Quality Assurance Group (QAG); and a report commissioned by the Latin America and Caribbean Region, based on in-country assessments of completed CEAs, have also informed this study. A detailed case study analysis of each completed CEA was prepared for this exercise; it substantively informed the review and is available as a background paper. The original CEA concept note proposed that CEAs have three main building blocks: (a) establishment of environment-development priorities linked with growth and poverty reduction, (b) assessment of the environmental implications of sector policies, and (c) institutional analysis. Assessing CEAs against this building block structure, the review highlights several findings.Publication Costing Adaptation through Local Institutions(Washington, DC, 2011-02)This report presents the results of the World Bank funded project on Costing Adaptation through Local Institutions (CALI). The objectives of the CALI project are to: (1) identify the costs of adaptation through local institutions, and (2) investigate which institutions support households in adapting to climate variability, what efforts and costs are needed to realize the adaptation options, and how they facilitate adaptation to climate variability. The study has been carried out in Mali, Ethiopia, and Yemen. This report discusses the results for Mali.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Global Economic Prospects, June 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-06-10)The global economy is facing another substantial headwind, emanating largely from an increase in trade tensions and heightened global policy uncertainty. For emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), the ability to boost job creation and reduce extreme poverty has declined. Key downside risks include a further escalation of trade barriers and continued policy uncertainty. These challenges are exacerbated by subdued foreign direct investment into EMDEs. Global cooperation is needed to restore a more stable international trade environment and scale up support for vulnerable countries grappling with conflict, debt burdens, and climate change. Domestic policy action is also critical to contain inflation risks and strengthen fiscal resilience. To accelerate job creation and long-term growth, structural reforms must focus on raising institutional quality, attracting private investment, and strengthening human capital and labor markets. Countries in fragile and conflict situations face daunting development challenges that will require tailored domestic policy reforms and well-coordinated multilateral support.Publication Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, Spring 2025: Accelerating Growth through Entrepreneurship, Technology Adoption, and Innovation(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-23)Business dynamism and economic growth in Europe and Central Asia have weakened since the late 2000s, with productivity growth driven largely by resource reallocation between firms and sectors rather than innovation. To move up the value chain, countries need to facilitate technology adoption, stronger domestic competition, and firm-level innovation to build a more dynamic private sector. Governments should move beyond broad support for small- and medium-sized enterprises and focus on enabling the most productive firms to expand and compete globally. Strengthening competition policies, reducing the presence of state-owned enterprises, and ensuring fair market access are crucial. Limited availability of long-term financing and risk capital hinders firm growth and innovation. Economic disruptions are a shock in the short term, but they provide an opportunity for implementing enterprise and structural reforms, all of which are essential for creating better-paying jobs and helping countries in the region to achieve high-income status.Publication Morocco Economic Update, Winter 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-03)Despite the drought causing a modest deceleration of overall GDP growth to 3.2 percent, the Moroccan economy has exhibited some encouraging trends in 2024. Non-agricultural growth has accelerated to an estimated 3.8 percent, driven by a revitalized industrial sector and a rebound in gross capital formation. Inflation has dropped below 1 percent, allowing Bank al-Maghrib to begin easing its monetary policy. While rural labor markets remain depressed, the economy has added close to 162,000 jobs in urban areas. Morocco’s external position remains strong overall, with a moderate current account deficit largely financed by growing foreign direct investment inflows, underpinned by solid investor confidence indicators. Despite significant spending pressures, the debt-to-GDP ratio is slowly declining.