Cooling Cities: Action Planning for Extreme Heat  

Background

In alignment with United Nation’s Secretary General’s Call to Action on Extreme Heat, UNEP  Cool Coalition members are developing a Global Standard Approach on Urban Heat/ Cooling Action Plans. This standard approach will guide subnational governments and cities to design and align their actions to reduce heat risks, increase resilience to heat and adoption of sustainable cooling.

Experts have identified numerous gaps in approaches globally, due to lack of agreed methodologies but also resource and data constraints. Diverse approaches are being tested in cities globally on these three steps.

The workshop discusses a three-step approach: 1) raising awareness through urban heat vulnerability mapping and Urban Heat Island assessments; 2) preparedness for heat disasters and immediate actions during heatwaves; and 3) redesigning the built environment for heat-resilience and to deliver affordable and sustainable cooling.

Such an approach provides the scientific basis and justification for vital short and long-term concerted action, including policy and urban planning reforms, and targeted programs to protect the most vulnerable and critical infrastructure. 

Objectives

The workshop will provide a platform for knowledge sharing from key stakeholders on best practices and from city officials on actions, measured benefits and implementation challenges.  

The workshop will establish a platform of key experts and partners to support and refine this standard approach over the proceeding months. 

Experts will discuss the integration of extreme heat and cooling into countries’ climate mitigation and adaptation targets and plans. 

Outcomes

Knowledge sharing and learnings from the workshop will feed into the global approach being developed for Urban Cooling Action Plan (UCAP), inclusive of guidelines for Urban Heat Vulnerability (UHV) mapping. All participating subnational governments, institutes, cities will be duly acknowledged. 

A global networking platform will be established, for instututes carrying out pioneering work to manage extreme heat along with city case studies sharing action towards heat resilience and sustainable cooling strategies. 

Agenda

Welcome and Opening

• Welcome by the Chair
  Eleni Myrivili, Global Chief Heat Officer, UN Habitat and Arsht-Rock
• Opening: UN Secretary General’s Call to Action on Extreme Heat
  Arun Jacob, Senior Advisor, Climate Action Team, Executive Office of the UN SG
• Setting the Stage
  Mirey Atallah, Chief of Resilience and Adaptation Branch, UNEP

Session 1: Awareness & Preparedness – Urban Heat Mapping, Exposure & Vulnerabilities
Moderator Dr. Graeme Maidment, Technical Lead Cooling – Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, UK Government

Panel Presentations

• Prof. Rajan Rawal, CEPT University
• Dr. Joy Shumake-Guillemot, Lead – WHO/WMO Joint Climate and Health Office
• Sanjaya Bhatia, Head of Office, UNDRR

Redesign: Using Heat Mapping for Urban Planning

• Dr. Matthias Roth, Professor of Urban Climatology, National University of Singapore
• Tmt. Sudha S, Member Secretary, State Planning Commission, Tamil Nadu State, India
• Jaya Dhindaw, Executive Program Director, Cities Program, WRI India
• Dr. David Fork, Research Scientist, Google

Coffee Break

Session 2: Redesigning Resilient Cities – Creating Heat/Cooling Action Plan
Moderator Lily Riahi, Global Coordinator – UNEP Cool Coalition

Panel Discussion

• Owen Gow, Associate Director, Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Centre
• Eugenia Kargbo, Chief Heat Officer, Freetown City, Sierra Leone
• Jane Gilbert, Chief Heat Officer, Miami-Dade, US
• Cuc Nguyen, Deputy Head, Department of Climate Change, Vietnam
• Maria Buhigas, Chief City Architect, Barcelona City, Spain
• Amy Buitenhuis, Head of Urban Heat Program – C40

Q&A with Audience

Integration of Heat into NDC/ETF
Amanda McKee, Director, NDC Partnership

Closing Remarks
Gulnara Roll, Head Cities, UNEP and ExCom, Cool Coalition

Slide Deck