Tackling urban heat at Understanding Risk Asia

Future Resilient Systems (FRS) is bringing approaches to tackle the urban heat and the application of cognitive computing technology for resilient cities to Understanding Risk Asia. The two-day hybrid conference features wide-ranging themes, with a focus on the creation and use of risk information for decision-making.

The impact of climate change and urbanisation on Asian cities is precedented. Since the mid-1970s, Singapore has been warming at a rate of 0.25 degrees Celsius per decade – higher than the global average of 0.17 degree Celsius. Plans to build urban climate resilience need to prioritise the development of nature, design, and engineering-based strategies to tackle urban heat in high-density areas.

In the session on ‘Urban Heat’, the panellists will discuss factors leading to urban heat risk, from global climate change to the pervasive use of air conditioners, as well as highlight the effects on energy consumption and well-being. Highlights of the panel session, which is at the intersection of research and planning, will include tools and methods such as user-centric modelling tools, climate-sensitive urban planning, as well as experience in Singapore and other cities.

A better understanding of heat risk in the urban context, and how to assess and reduce such risks, will enable city planners, policy makers and industry to work together to develop strategies for hazard adaptation in cities.

The session is moderated by Dr Jonas Joerin, Co-Director of the Future Resilient Systems (FRS) programme at the Singapore-ETH Centre.

Panellists include:

• Mr CHIU Wen Tung, Group Director (Research & Development) at the Urban Redevelopment Authority
• Prof. YUAN Chao, Principal Investigator at FRS and Presidential Young Professor at the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore
• Prof. Jan CARMELIET, Co-Investigator at FRS and Professor of Building Physics at the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich

FRS at the Singapore-ETH Centre is a content partner of the conference organised by the World Bank, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, and the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk. It is contributing to another session on the topic of Enhancing resilience of smart cities through cognitive computing technology.