Rapid urban growth is reshaping the relationships among water, heat, and land in arid and semi-arid cities. These cities often face chronic water scarcity, yet they can also experience short, intense rainfall and episodic flooding. Urban expansion, land-cover change, and rising demand for cooling and urban greening further alter surface energy balance, evapotranspiration, runoff, and water use. For example, irrigation-based greening may reduce summer heat but increase pressure on already limited water supplies, while rapid surface sealing can intensify runoff during short, high-intensity storms. These processes create difficult trade-offs, and adaptation measures may reduce one risk while shifting pressure to another part of the urban system.

This session focuses on how coupled water–heat–land processes shape climate risk and resilience in rapidly developing arid and semi-arid cities. We welcome studies on urban growth, heat stress, water availability, hydrological extremes, land-use change, and ecosystem processes, drawing on field observations, remote sensing, modelling, and comparative case studies.

We are particularly interested in adaptation strategies that address multiple interacting risks rather than single hazards, including urban greening and cooling, blue-green and nature-based infrastructure, and water-sensitive planning. We also welcome work examining trade-offs among water conservation, flood management, thermal comfort, ecological quality, and urban development.

Across arid and semi-arid regions, similar interventions can produce very different outcomes because of differences in climate, water availability, urban form, and land-use context. This session therefore asks when, where, and under what conditions water–heat–land trade-offs can be reduced or resolved, rather than simply displaced.