Editorial: Climate Change, Aerosol Pollution and Public Health Risk in an Urban Context

Climate change and air pollution are two major issues posing threats to the population living in large metropolitan areas. In the last years, the increase in frequency of severe weather events due to climate change and air pollution episodes, is of high concern in terms of property damages and life losses. Insight from future projections, urbanization will significantly influence climate change in the coming decades. More importantly, recent studies found significant evidences regarding the mutual interaction between climate change and air pollution, which could magnify the adverse impacts on both environment and society. For example, air pollution extreme events such as haze can be modulated by local weather conditions. Adverse scenarios from climate change can be directly and indirectly influenced by aerosol concentrations as well as optical properties. All of these environmental extremes are not only being the determinants that can damage the earth system but also adversely influencing human health due to an unfavorable condition caused by compact urban environment paired with a high population density. Although half of the global population is living in urban areas, interactions between climate change, aerosol pollution and public health risk in an urban context have yet to be fully explored.