Over a three year period, we are developing a portfolio of research projects that examine how heat is being governed, managed, and experienced in high density global cities.
Extreme Heat and COVID-19
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 431.7 million people worldwide experienced a heatwave event.
The Politics of Shade
What do struggles to claim and access shade look like in the South Asian city?
A Brief History of the Urban Heat Action Plan
Cities across South Asia are adopting ‘urban heat action plans’, but what do these plans actually do and how do they frame the problem of heat?
Unpatching Home
In Karachi, the use of space within houses is affected by both the climate as well as the thermal properties of the materials used for construction.
Cooling as a Social Practice
Over the past decades, urban sprawl in tropical cities intersects with the issue of limited access to adequate cooling technologies in high population density areas.
Water as Cool Infrastructure
Dominant thermal imaginaries and heat-health governance often obscure the everyday significance of water as fundamental for cooling.
Cool Cartographies
What are the challenges of mapping surface temperatures onto low income neighbourhoods in the southern city?
Heat and the Body
How is the exposure to heat as a health risk to be understood across gender, age, and socioeconomic status? How can public health debates about acclimatization be expanded?
Heat in Pious Times
Each year, somewhere in the world, the 9th month of the Islamic calendar (Ramadan or Ramzan) will overlap with seasonal or unseasonal heat.
Street Heat in Jakarta
Street vendors in Jakarta play an important role in the urban economy but have minimal social protection against exposure to extreme heat.
Profiting from Heat
The need for cooling technologies opens up livelihood opportunities. This project focuses on Karachi's largest second-hand market for cooling equipment.
Heat and Sound
How do heat and cooling contribute to the acoustic fabric of the city? How can the study of urban soundscapes be used to understand the effects of the changing climate?