How to Build Climate Resilient Cities

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi and the Institute of Urban Designer’s India (IUDI)-Karnataka Chapter, convened a regional forum in Bengaluru to discuss climate resilience in Indian cities, and ways to sharpen their capacity to withstand the crisis.Around 60 participants attended the conference consisting of government officials, members from the Institute of Urban Designers India, academia, industry experts, researchers etc.

Session 1: Heat management in the built environment

Mr. Rajneesh Sareen, Director, Sustainable Habitat Programme, CSE set the agenda for the conference and presented CSE’s research on factors’ responsible for causing thermal discomfort on a city scale and what needs to be done. Dr. Anup Naik, IUDI National Council presented his vision of what needs to be done in the city of Bengaluru to build climate resilience. Dr. Vijay Chandru, Adjunct faculty, Indian Institute of Sciences showed the work being carried out by the Indian Institute of Sciences on modellingheat related risks and designing interventions in Karnataka.

Session 2:Mainstreaming low carbon construction

The session started with Mr. Sugeet Grover, Programme Manager, Sustainable Habitat Programme, CSE introducing the audience to the latest report ‘Beyond concrete: Low-carbon Solutions from Novelty to Norm’.The reportprovides a compendium of low-carbon alternates to conventional construction technologies and outlines policy pathways that can help stakeholders bring these lesser-used methods into the mainstream.The report was launched during the event following which Mr. Chandrashekhar Hariharan, founder, AltTech Foundation took an interactive session with experts and audience to discuss a way forward on how these technologies can be mainstreamed and how the city can respond to the challenges of climate change.