Designing cooler cities energy, cooling and urban form: the asian perspective

With rising affluence and rapid urbanization, the energy and climatic, as well as, health impacts of cities are of increasing importance. Much of this intensive urban growth is in the hot climate developing countries, not least in Asia. The quest for ‘sustainable’ cities has led to innovative and successful solutions that offer better living quality along with greatly reduced environmental impacts. Due partly to a lack of resources, less has to date been done in developing countries and hot climates. The largest energy and climatic challenge in these cities is that of cooling. Our urban environment determines indoor climate and wellbeing, as well, as outdoor comfort and public health. Whereas tackling the issue of heat in cities is our focus, sustainable development is essentially about quality of life, for both people and for the environment, both now and in the future. Seen as a whole which it must be the aim is a good balance
between all three areas of ecology, economy and society. In the real world, however, economic and socio-political factors often weigh more heavily in decision making than environment. This represents missed opportunities, where growing cities are locking themselves into poor health as well as huge future energy and climate burdens. Yet many sustainable solutions exist already, and do not even necessarily cost more. This applies equally in the field of cooling. Hot-climate cities are increasingly problematic due to congestion, pollution and deteriorating microclimates, not least growing urban heat island (UHI) effects (Santamouris 2007). As is well known, inner city temperatures are commonly several degrees hotter than the surrounding countryside; leading to increased energy needs for cooling, as well as heat stress and
indeed mortality. Global warming and rapid urbanization both exacerbate overheating in cities. In this book, we focus on case studies from Asian hot climates because projections suggest they will be subjected to more land degradation, population displacement and economic disruption from climatic changes (including sea level rises) than any other part of the planet (Anthoff et al. 2006; USAID 2010). Our selected region is thus the most vulnerable to climate change and temperature increase. A megacity like
Manila in the Philippines has already reached the danger level of 2 C increase in its urban core the increase to be avoided as part of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Hence, we face a major challenge for both existing and new cities, and particularly for the urban poor who cannot afford better living environments or cooling amenities.

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