Urban Thinkers Campus “Climate Adaptation in Challenging Environments in the MENA Region”
UTC Background: ISOCARP Institute together with Middle East Cities Center at the American University in Dubai University and other partners will organize on the 22nd of June 2021 the UTC on Hot Cities in the MENA region. According to the latest IPCC simulations, the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) has been identified as a hotspot for future temperature changes due to its arid environmental conditions. Heat extremes are expected to increase significantly in both frequency and intensity across the MENA region. Heatwaves will occur for 80 days of the year by 2050 and 118 days of the year by 2100. Combined with increased sandstorms associated with longer drought periods, predicted temperature rises would make large parts of the region uninhabitable. Extreme heat has been identified as a serious threat to human health, heightening an individuals’ susceptibility to exhaustion, heart attack and mortality.
Hot cities in the MENA region – with the reference to Dubai- are a current trend which will be highlighted and discussed during the UTC. Meanwhile we would like to expand the discussion on what other trends related to the Hot Cities trends are emerging? Among the main trends that we would like to touch upon and discuss possible solutions are: water scarcity, biodiversity loss, sea level rise, loss of coastal defence and storm surges.
UTC Objective: The main objective of this UTC is to discuss and explore solutions that are being tested to ameliorate the future of urban living conditions. The Campus will explore and discuss solutions on how cities can better respond to changing climate conditions, using Dubai as an example of a city which due to its demanding climate conditions, has from the beginning had to plan in ways, which can offer valuable best practices to urban planners around the world.
The session last 3 hours and will be hosted on Zoom. We aim to make this session as interactive and inclusive as it is possible.
Check out the agenda to learn more!
Call for contributors: Are you a practitioner who would like to present your case study or ideas on possible solutions to the challenges that hot cities are facing nowadays? Are you an industry partner who have been working with climate adaptive infrastructure solutions/products? Or are you a member of a community who would like to share your experience on implementing climate mitigation measures? Then we would like to listen to your story! Researchers, industry partners, climate adaptation practitioners or community members are invited to submit initiatives, questions and possible strategies to present them for discussion at the UTC.
Application deadline: June 13, 2020