Partner Events
eLearning Course on Passive Urban Cooling Solutions (Self-paced)
05 February 2021 - 31 March 2021,09:00 America/New_York
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Online
The course will be based on the Primer for Cool Cities: Reducing Excessive Urban Heat – With a Focus on Passive Measures and presented as a series of four modules: (1) Introducing Urban Heat and its Effects: The module will introduce the concept of rising urban temperatures as a key resiliency challenge for cities. It will explore the current macro-trends driving urban heat and the nature and causes of the urban heat island phenomenon. The module will also review heat’s wide-ranging negative effects on urban systems and populations. (2) Technical Solutions to Urban Heat and Barriers to Implementing Them: This module will introduce the concept of passive and active urban cooling and present a series of technical solutions to facilitate passive urban cooling. The module also explores the unique barriers to implementing technical passive urban cooling solutions that have slowed wide-scale adoption of these solutions in both the developed and developing world. (3) Designing, Adopting and Implementing Policies to Cool Cities: This module will focus on how cities can develop effective policies and programs to implement technical passive urban cooling solutions. The module articulates a framework to encourage an inclusive, multi-stakeholder policy development process that incorporates multiple technical urban cooling solutions and establishes measurable goals. The module highlights and categorizes existing urban cooling policies implemented by cities around the world. Finally, the module reviews how these policies and programs are financed, with recommendations for how cities can increase the availability of funding and financing to support urban cooling efforts. (4) Summary of Recommendations: This module concludes the eLearning Course with general recommendations to develop and implement passive urban cooling solutions and policies, drawn from some of the common good practices adopted by cities from around the world. While there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to urban cooling, there are a few policies and strategies that appear in a number of effective urban cooling efforts undertaken by cities around the world that are summarized here.
