Exploring heat in the street space, or reimagining the street through a heat lens?

Urban warming and heatwaves are challenging the resilience of urban systems. Income inequality and the uneven distribution of development and infrastructure further exacerbate this complexity in the Global South. In this context, most Asian cities face high-density urbanisation and often haphazardly placed outdoor spaces, although these cities are the most vulnerable to heat-related mortality and morbidity.

Dr Shreya Banerjee navigates this duality using a mixed-method approach to explore sustainable heat scape in the outdoor spaces and streets of Asian megacities. Employing a combination of lived experiences, sensor-based data collection, observational meteorology and exploratory analysis, she seeks to explore how we can inform heat justice and ensure access to heat resilient outdoor spaces and streets for vulnerable demographics such as the elderly, street vendors and marginalised women.

Drawing evidence from her fieldwork conducted on elderly public transit riders in the Indian city of Jodhpur; and women pedestrians in Jodhpur and Kathmandu (the capital of Nepal), she identifies the drivers, barriers, and mechanisms of heat resilience corresponding to spatial, social, economic, physiological and microclimatic factors for varying cities and demographics. Her research can further inform street design guidelines for comfortable walking, bicycling, and outdoor activities during extreme heat.

Speaker

Dr Shreya Banerjee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture and Regional Planning at IIT Kharagpur, India and a GCHU Visiting Global Research Associate.

Please note this hybrid event will take place in the Walter Room, Kellogg College and Zoom.

Open to: General Public, Members of Kellogg College,