Tech and science of climate-responsive design

Two research pillar leaders of the Cooling Singapore project explain how they are addressing the urban heat island (UHI) effect in an interview for the National Research Foundation's external pageRIE Newscall_made. Two perspectives with one common goal - to cool Singapore, and potentially, beyond.

Dr Heiko Aydt, computational scientist and lead investigator of the Digital Urban Climate Twin R&D pillar, discuss how modelling—specifically, the digital urban climate twin—is an essential tool that allows planners to ask ‘what-if’ questions and provides the information required for better-informed urban planning and design.

Dr Juan Angel Acero, climatologist and lead investigator of the Climate and Vegetation pillar, looks at mitigating urban heat sources: radiative heat from the sun that is trapped in the urban fabric; and anthropogenic heat emitted due to human activities. He explores how the different components of the city—built surfaces, vehicular traffic, vegetation, air-conditioning—and different configurations of these components could mitigate the UHI effect.

The end goal is to develop the scientific knowledge and technological tools to make climate-responsive, or climate-sensitive urban design more accessible to planners and key stakeholders. To ensure that the Cooling Singapore project not only stays relevant to the current situation, but also engages with future developments of Singapore, they acknowledge the necessity for open communication with the relevant agencies.

While the work of Cooling Singapore could benefit other regions in the world that are experiencing the urban heat island effect, Dr Acero cautions there is no one solution for every urban area. The same mitigation strategies may not have the same impact in different urban settings. Thus, interventions to mitigate urban heat must be tailored to the specific context where they are applied.