Jaya Dindo is Executive Program Director for Sustainable Cities and Director of the World Resources Institute – WRI India Ross Center in Bangalore.
The WRI Indo-Ross Center for Sustainable Cities addresses issues such as mobility, urban development, energy and water, and climate resilience, all with an urban context.
Jaya spoke to indianexpress.com about urban heat islands and the technologies that can help monitor them, the challenges Indian cities face in leveraging such technologies, and WRI's work on urban heat islands and thermal resilience. Told.
Edited excerpt:
Venkatesh Kanaiah: What work has WRI done on the 'urban heat island' and how serious is this issue across Indian cities?
Jaya Dindo: Urban heat islands occur when a city or part of a city experiences much higher temperatures than neighboring areas. Urban heat islands result from complex interactions between the built environment, natural factors, and human activities. WRI has conducted extensive research on measuring and mapping urban heat islands and urban heat waves in India.
An earlier study by the Met Office assessed that a run of record temperatures in India could now occur every three years, instead of around 300 years previously.
Approximately 80% of Indians experience heat waves during the first 15 days of summer, and the informal sector, the lifeblood of every economy, is disproportionately affected by such urban heat stress. is proven in research. While it causes illness and discomfort, it has a huge impact on energy consumption, urban air pollution levels, human productivity patterns, and overall ecological impacts.
We know that urban heat islands can cause temperature differences of up to 6 degrees Celsius within a given region or neighborhood. This can vary depending on the construction materials used, the number of buildings around the area and how they were constructed, the road materials used, and the presence and density of trees/green space in a particular area. Lack of water bodies can also increase the effects of heat. That six degrees is his one data point from Mumbai, but not at his peak in the summer. This number can be even higher depending on the season, climate zone, and city conditions. Imagine the damage caused by the heat if a city records a heat of 40 degrees Celsius and your region or sub-region is more than 6 degrees above his.
And to this is added the vulnerability of certain socio-economic groups. Data shows that many informal settlements in India use heat-absorbing GI/metal/asbestos sheets on their roofs, which could further worsen the situation.
According to a 2014 Indian Institute of Science report, the ideal tree-to-human ratio should be seven trees per person. A lack of trees increases the risk of exposure to high temperatures. It turns out that there are places in Indian cities where the density of trees is so low that for every 50 people there is only one tree. In some places, even if 450 people live there, he is as low as a tree. All of these contribute to worsening the urban heat island effect.
We at WRI India are committed to using data tools to visualize the scale and scope of the problem and thereby raise awareness. We will also test solutions such as green infrastructure and thermal design, and work with cities to develop strategic plans focused on climate risks and hazards.
Venkatesh Kanaiah: Tell us about the key innovations that have improved weather and heat tracking in India. And how well can it compare with other countries?
Jaya Dindo: Several technological innovations have strengthened weather and heat risk monitoring in India. There is a soft infrastructure of remote sensing satellites that provide valuable data for tracking weather patterns, surface temperatures, and urban heat islands. There is hard infrastructure deployed in cities with sensors that collect real-time data on several parameters such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, and air quality, all of which help in monitoring thermal risks.
And now, with the help of AI, we have developed advanced modeling techniques for weather forecasting that can help us prepare for heat waves and other weather events.
Technology adoption in India's weather and heat risk monitoring is improving, but with increased resources available to deploy broader networks and acquire higher resolution data, other countries with sophisticated systems are It may not be on par with developed countries. For example, major cities in India have an average of 7-8 India Meteorological Development weather stations, while comparable cities like San Francisco have over 100 weather stations. We are more focused on water risk and safety when it comes to weather, so we have more detailed data on precipitation, but heat is not a consistent part of the monitoring process.
In developed countries, weather tracking is performed by a variety of actors, from academic and research institutions to government agencies and the private sector. All this rich data helps provide a more nuanced understanding of the scenario.
Venkatesh Kanaiah: How simple or complex is the technology to monitor urban heat islands, and how widespread is this technology in India to capture the essence of the problem?
Jaya Dhindaw: Techniques for monitoring urban heat islands can be simple or complex, depending on the level of accuracy required. For example, the basic method we currently use is satellite imagery to determine surface temperature. You can also use a hand-held infrared thermometer to measure the surface temperature of a specific location. These methods are frequently used in large cities. However, smaller cities lack these capabilities and are typically limited in the nature of the infrastructure and coverage they can deploy.
A more advanced approach would be to install sensors throughout the city to monitor temperature changes at different heights and locations. While this greatly helps with preparedness and mitigation, it is also quite resource intensive and difficult to scale.
Another work WRI is working on with Google is developing products to help decision makers design cooling systems and track urban heat islands. Rather than simply using land surface temperature (LST) as a metric, we want to more accurately use albedo, the amount of energy reflected by a surface, for tracking.
Although India's metropolitan cities have made considerable progress in adopting more sophisticated technology and its reach, access to such technology in tier 2 and 3 cities remains a concern. These places don't have a lot of capacity, investment, or planning.
Venkatesh Kanaiah: Are city governments in India leveraging technology to track urban heat islands? Are there any success stories?
Jaya Dindo: If there's any success story for heat tracking by an Indian city, it's definitely Ahmedabad. He is Ahmedabad, which has made a fresh start after the 2010 heatwave that killed more than 2,000 people. In 2012, we developed a heat response plan. The effort included deploying temporary monitoring stations, satellite-based heat maps, and early warning systems to identify areas susceptible to extreme heat waves. Data collected from these systems can help inform decision-making and design interventions to reduce heat stress.
More than two dozen cities and states across India are currently preparing 'heat mitigation' plans that demonstrate the value of leveraging technology-driven evidence and decision support systems to tackle urban heat challenges.
Venkatesh Kaniah: Are Indian climate technology startups tackling the urban heat island problem?
Jaya Dindo: Yes. Although climate change technologies are attracting billions of dollars worth of investment, it is important to understand that it is not necessary to alleviate heat stress in a direct way. Start-ups in the energy, building materials and mobility sectors are working on technologies to reduce heat stress in urban areas.
There are several startups focusing on nature-based solutions, i.e. themes such as greening and improving natural infrastructure such as water bodies. Some use data and predictive analytics to understand heat hotspots and suggest the types of nature-based interventions that can be implemented. However, in India, there are serious challenges for startups to mainstream such solutions and for the government to adopt them, as bidding and procurement procedures are cumbersome and do not keep pace with new systems being installed. .
We at WRI India are committed to bringing together stakeholders such as governments, start-ups, and funders, and through these conferences and lab efforts, we enable pilots and translate these ideas into government and policy Share with planners and help scale these solutions in urban spaces.
Venkatesh Kanaiah: Can you tell us about the technological innovations that can help alleviate the urban heat island?
Jaya Dindo: Technologies for mitigation center around building materials such as cool roofing materials, reflective building materials, and different types of paints, apart from vertical gardens, urban forests, and green infrastructure. Several cities in Gujarat are taking steps to address this issue.
Japan and China are turning their attention to cool pavements, including brightly colored paints and special coatings that can reflect sunlight and lower surface temperatures, mitigating the heat island effect. Such innovations are being studied in Pune and Delhi.
There are also many innovations such as running cold water through pipes throughout the house and other architecture-driven innovations to reduce the heat.
Insulation design should be incorporated based on factors such as building orientation, location, and materials to maximize shade, create green spaces, and promote natural ventilation, all of which reduce urban heat island effects. will help you.
There is another important aspect of health technology that is related to heat stress. It provides customized heat stress testing and customized warnings and medications based on vulnerability to heat and dehydration. This is not a generalized guideline, but is based on customized and individual data.
Venkatesh Kanaiah: Are urban heat islands and heat waves a problem for technology to solve?
Jaya Dhindaw: Technology plays a key role in this issue. The role of technology is to provide data-driven insights into the nature and intensity of heat stress, provide early warning, and consider a wide range of materials to devise “cooler” materials in the final stages of mitigation. is. But more importantly, the urban heat island problem is an urban design and development issue that needs to be viewed from the larger perspective of economic policy, urban management, and sustainable living in cities.
