Innovative pathways towards building integrated urban climate resilience

The global urban population has grown rapidly from approximately 1 billion in 1950 to 4.4 billion in 2021. By 2050 the world’s urban population is expected to reach 6.7 billion, which constitutes almost 70% of the total population. 90% of this increase will occur in Africa and Asia.

In 2015 India’s urban population was 420 million but this is projected to almost double and reach 800 million by 2050. In the face of climate change, this makes sustainable and climate-resilient urbanization one of the most challenging problems in the modern era.

During the URBCARE conference speakers will share their insights about key urban issues such as heat stress, air pollution, waste management, wastewater use and urban flooding. The way these are inter-connected in a city means an integrated approach to solving these challenges is needed.

With the growth in city populations, it is important to focus on the linkages between urban development, planning and climate concerns. The speakers will focus on innovative ways of building integrated urban climate resilience and sustainability with scalable technology options.

The conference is built around 3 pillars: (1) relation between rapid urbanization and climate change, (2) technologies and related pathways on mitigation and adaptation and (3) mission life, heritage and climate change.


Location and registration

The URBCARE conference will take place at the Abdul Kalam Technical University in Lucknow in India. Registration date is still to be defined. If you would like to be informed when the free registration will open, please leave your email address.

Preliminary program

22 NOVEMBER 2023
PILLAR 1: RELATION BETWEEN RAPID URBANIZATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE

The speakers will discuss the stress on the urban fabric, where higher populations mean increased emissions from cities and higher production levels to serve their growing needs. The climate impacts that will result from this affect urban populations in terms of livability and thermal comfort. We need a broader understanding of this intertwined relationship so we can make our cities more resilient against the adverse effects of climate change.

SESSION 1: INAUGURAL SESSION ON SETTING THE CONTEXT SESSION 2: BRINGING TOGETHER GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE ON TACKLING KEY URBAN CLIMATE CONCERNS
PILLAR 2: TECHNOLOGIES AND RELATED PATHWAYS ON MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION

A well-coordinated effort is required to develop best practices to mitigate the effects of climate change by drawing on both global and local experiences and pathways. Climate finance is also required to support the most promising projects using new practices, which could lead the way and encourage change. Given the wide variety of climate change efforts currently used, the speakers will highlight some of the best methodologies for tackling climate change in urban areas.

SESSION 3: INTERVENTIONS TO CURB AND MITIGATE THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN URBAN AREAS SESSION 4: INTERVENTIONS TO CURB AND MITIGATE THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN URBAN AREAS SESSION 5: INTERVENTIONS TO CURB AND MITIGATE THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN URBAN AREAS

23 NOVEMBER 2023
PILLAR 3: MISSION LIFE, HERITAGE AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change and natural disasters pose a threat to our built heritage and natural landscapes. To protect our heritage, we need to build systems to cope with these risks. The speakers in this session will present case studies about capacity building for resilience against climate change disaster risk through community engagement and stewardship.

SESSION 6: URBANIZATION FOCUSING ON INTEGRATING BEHAVIOUR, LIFESTYLE AND CULTURE AS INSTRUMENTS OF CHANGE
CONCLUSIONS AND THE WAY FORWARD

Mitigating the effects of urbanization in India


Do you have questions?


Send an email to Hafeez Rehman, CEO VITO Arabia - Director India Operations: hafeez.rehman@vito.be.


Related projects


The URBCARE conference is supported through both the CHARISMA and BCAUSYOUCARE project. Funded through International Climate Financing by the Department of Environment (Flanders), CHARISMA focusses on climate-induced health risks in India. By means of co-creation with local stakeholders and authorities, VITO (coordinator), PHFI-CEH and Avia-GIS develop a dedicated climate-health information service, constituting a valuable data repository on which basis present health issues due to climate change in urban environments (notably heat-stress and vector borne diseases) can be strategically attacked with no-regret solutions. In parallel, VITO and AKTU have joined hands in the BCAUSYOUCARE project, which enjoys funding from the Department of Environment through the G-STIC Climate Action Programme, to build and transfer knowledge and expertise on urban heat stress, and necessary adaptation, in India as a direct result of climate change.


Organized by VITO and AKTU


The URBCARE Conference is organized by VITO and AKTU (Abdul Kalam Technical University, India), in collaboration with G-STIC (Global Sustainable Technology and Innovation Community, Belgium), Government of Uttar Pradesh's Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department (India), Departement Omgeving (Flanders, Belgium), FIT (Flanders and Investment Trade, Belgium) and TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute, India).