Launch of ‘Planning and Designing Habitat in Climate-Risked Times: Heat toolkit’

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) launched its latest publication, “Planning and Designing Habitat in Climate-Risked Times: Heat Toolkit”, at the 73^rd National Town and Country Planners Conference on January 11, 2025, in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. This annual meet-up of planners saw participation from 258 attendees, including government officials, academicians, practitioners, and industry experts.

The publication provides a step-by-step methodology to assess heat stress at the city, neighbourhood, and local scales. It also examines the impact of land-use intensity and anthropogenic activities that exacerbate urban heat. By leveraging geospatial, spatio-temporal, climatological, and socioeconomic datasets and indicators, the report offers a comprehensive understanding of heat impacts and mitigation strategies.It aims to equipcity managers and policymakers to prioritize action and reduce risks in the most vulnerable areas and communities.The publication was widely appreciated for its comprehensiveness and uniqueness.

Ms. Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director of CSE, chaired a technical session on ‘Blue-Green Economy Resilient Future’. Under this theme, Mr. Rajneesh Sareen, Programme Director of the Sustainable Habitat Programme at CSE, presented key findings from the publication. He emphasised the importance of analysing urban areas at multiple levels—regional and neighbourhood—to address heat stress effectively. Highlighting the role of various parameters in influencing heat gains or reductions, he stressed that the quality of green and blue infrastructure, rather than just its quantity, plays a crucial role in shaping urban microclimates.

Ms. Anumita Roychowdhury underlined the mounting challenges cities will face as they become increasingly vulnerable in a warming world. She called for urgent andaggressive measures to reduce emissions and strengthen adaptation strategies to improve resilience. While acknowledging efforts to expand green spaces and rejuvenate water bodies, she emphasised the need to accelerate these initiatives with a focus on community involvement and delivering tangible benefits.Concluding the session, she emphasised the need to strengthen existing policies by enhancing capacity, tools, data, evidence, and guiding principles to effectively influence urban investments, with a particular focus on advancing green and blue infrastructure.

The next steps include augmenting academic curricula to incorporated heat mapping and heat-resilient planning and design, while also aligning these principles with master plans and building codes to ensure their practical application and long-term impact.