Urban Climate Science to Engineering Future Cities - Evolution of Understanding and Opportunities

Cities globally are at the epicenter of socioeconomic and technological advances but are also disproportionately impacted by weather extremes. Interestingly, while cities are affected by the large-scale weather patterns, cities themselves create thermodynamical feedback which affects local and regional meteorology. The changes in temperature due to urban growth are likely most recognizable as 'urban heat islands' (UHIs). These UHIs are indicators of the systemic changes that are dynamically underway- with the temperature changes affecting the local humidity, local scale convergence, and potential for cloud-convection processes, and in some instances changes in the precipitation characteristics.  These changes in the meteorological parameters have now been well documented and a consistent signature and understanding emerging that emphatically highlights that cities change local weather and climate.  

Given this understanding of the state of the science, the next question that comes up is how can we then design cities that can create regionally "desired" weather and climate for the cities- or at the very least reduce the exposure to the climatic extremes and the vulnerability.  This invited presentation will discuss the evolution of the community's understanding of urban science and the efforts underway to translate this synthesis from being useful to usable and actionable for city operations, decision-making, and planning activities that can help build resilience.  The talk will also discuss how the information from upcoming assessments such as the IPCC Special Report on Cities and Climate and related activities will need to be leveraged by cities globally, through local municipal- academia - community colabs, urban digital twins, and community and consensus building regarding data governance, ethics, experimental testbed, and experiential outcomes that can be scaled, adapted, and engaged for cities globally.