CLIMATE-RESILIENT CITIES: Adaptive and Mitigative Approaches for a Warming Habitat

Cities face immense vulnerability in the wake of climate change, with far-reaching consequences for infrastructure, lives and environmental well-being. A United Nations report warns that at 1.5°C warming, 2.3 billion people could suffer severe heat waves. The report also predicts a potential 4°C rise in warming in cities by century-end if greenhouse gas emissions persist at current levels.

Elevated temperatures in cities can pose challenges such as heat-related illnesses, increased cooling energy demands, water shortages, and economic consequences. The dire situation is exacerbated by concretisation, shrinking of green spaces and waterbodies, lifestyle changes, and a shift towards air conditioning and cars.

There is an urgent need to tackle cities’ heat-related challenges with the help of adaptive and mitigative measures. This can be done through modification of bye-laws, strategic planning, innovative building design, harnessing solar potential in buildings and public spaces, and integration of sustainable cooling systems, among others. These measures can play a key role in safeguarding public health, enhancing urban liveability, building resilience to climate change, and contributing to national climate goals.

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is offering a four-day training programme that will provide participants with holistic knowledge for designing climate-resilient and resource-efficient urban habitats. It will capture how better layout planning, optimisation of using green and blue infrastructure, incorporation of energy-efficient low-carbon techniques, transitioning towards renewable energy, and appropriate building design can -- together -- contribute to an enhanced urban environment and the overall well-being/liveability of its occupants.

PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS

• Urban habitat and climate change
• Understanding the drivers of heat gain, reductions, sources and sinks in an urban form
• Urban heat island effect
• Leveraging remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for urban climate studies
• Low-carbon and renewable cooling technologies
• Potential of solar energy for decarbonisation
• Role of electric vehicles in shaping the future
• State climate action plans
• Vulnerability assessment and risk mapping
• Energy Conservation Building Codes 

COURSE COORDINATOR

Nimish Gupta
Deputy Programme Manager
Sustainable Habitat Programme, CSE
9056225889
nimish.gupta@cseindia.org

COURSE DIRECTOR

Rajneesh Sareen
Programme Director
Sustainable Habitat Programme, CSE
rajneesh.sareen@cseindia.org