NERC-FAPESP Informed Greening of Cities for Urban Cooling (GreenCities)
Start date
October 2022End date
September 2024Vision
“Are the cooling benefits provided by urban parks reduced by high humidity in the humid tropics, and does this vary with time of day and season?”
GreenCities will establish a new international partnership between leading urban researchers in the University of Surrey, the University of São Paulo, Brazil, the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and other Brazilian institution partners.
The collaboration focuses on key knowledge gaps in our understanding of how urban green infrastructure (GI) provides cooling in tropical regions. It builds on partner strengths in atmospheric physics and atmospheric chemistry, ecosystem modelling, science engagement and community groups.
Objectives
The GreenCities international partnership is designed to bring together leading UK and Brazilian scientists. The overall goal is to build an international partnership around innovative measurement approaches to better understand the cooling effects and other co-benefits that urban GI can provide.
The specific objectives of the GreenCities are to:
- Make use of existing state-of-the-art eddy covariance infrastructure to provide additional data on cooling benefits of urban parks
- Use the latest technology with citizen science and public engagement to supplement fixed infrastructure measurements and improve the spatial resolution of flux data
- Create a dynamic modelling tool which incorporates these advances to better represent the benefits of urban parks and how they change daily and seasonally, as a tool for decision-making
- Create a long-lasting collaboration among Brazilian and UK scientists bringing innovative approaches to solve urban solutions.
Funders
GreenCities project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (Grant number: NE/X002799/1) and FAPESP - São Paulo Research Foundation (Grant number: 22/02365-5).
Funding amount
£125,000
Team
Lead principal investigator
Professor Prashant Kumar
University of Surrey
See profileCo-principal investigators
Professor Maria de Fatima Andrade
University of Sao Paolo
Co-investigators
Professor Leandro Luiz Giatti
University of São Paulo
Professor Adelaide Cassia Nardocci
University of São Paulo
Dr Paulo Sergio Cardoso da Silva
Energy and Nuclear Research Institute, IPEN/CNEN-SP
Professor Edmilson Dias de Freitas
University of São Paulo
Professor Regina Maura de Miranda
University of São Paulo
Dr Carlos Eduardo Souto-Oliveira
University of São Paulo
Professor Thiago Nogueira
University of São Paulo
Professor Taciana Toledo
Federal University of Minas Gerais
Professor Leila Martins
Federal Technology University, Parana - UTFPR
Professor Pedro Perez-Martinez
University of Campinas - UNICAMP
Dr Silvia Ribeiro de Souza
Institute of Environmental Research, State of São Paulo
Professor Giuliano Locosselli
University of São Paulo
Professor Laurence Jones
UKCEH
Researchers
Dr Sarkawt Hama
Research Fellow (ASAP-Delhi project)
Dr Sisay Debele
Research Fellow (OPERANDUM Project)
Dr Ana Paula Mendes Emygdio
Researcher
Dr David Fletcher
Researcher
Alice Fitch
Researcher
Dr Jeetendra Sahani
Postgraduate Research Student
Soheila Khalili
Postgraduate Research Student
Leiticia Figueiredo Candido
PhD student
News
In the media
Workshops
Online workshop
Half-day online workshop on 24 March 2023 at 1pm - 5pm UK time (10am - 2pm São Paulo time) – online registration link will be available soon.
Kick-off workshop
GreenCities first kick-off workshop (hybrid, in-person and online).
- Date: 1 November 2022, 9am - 5pm (São Paulo Time)
- Location: São Paulo, Brazil
- Venue: Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo (FSP-USP) Anfiteatro Paula Souza. Av. Dr. Arnaldo, 715 - São Paulo, Brazil
- Online registration link: register for the GreenCities kick-off workshop.
Programme
| Agenda | Sao Paulo local time |
|---|---|
Introduction and welcome panel Professor Adelaide Nardocci (FSP-USP) | 9am – 9:10am |
Session 1 - Implementation of GreenCities Project Co-Chairs: Professor Maria de Fatima Andrade (IAG-USP) and Professor Prashant Kumar (University of Surrey) | |
Overview of the GreenCities project Professor Prashant Kumar Director, Global Centre for Clean Air Research, University of Surrey | 9:10am – 9:25am |
WP1 - Enhanced eddy covariance measurements of heat and water vapour fluxes "Ecosystem services from Functional Forests" "CO2 and H2O fluxes in the scope of Metroclima project" | 9:25am – 9:55am |
| Q&A session | 9:55am – 10:25am |
WP2 - Citizen science to support data collection and public engagement "Citizen science engagement through thermography technique" | 10:25am – 10:40am |
| Q&A session | 10:40am – 11:10am |
WP3 - Ecosystem services modelling and incorporation into decision support tools Professor Laurence Jones (UKCEH) - Online | 11:10am – 11:25am |
| Q&A session | 11:25am – 11:40am |
| Coffee break | 11:40am – 12 noon |
| WP4 - Build partnership | 12 noon – 12:15pm |
| Q&A session | 12:15pm – 12:30pm |
| Discussion on synergies and finalise plan for the work ahead | 12:30pm – 1pm |
| Lunch break | 1pm – 2:30pm |
| Session 2 - relevant projects and discussion on other call submissions Chair: Professor Taciana Toledo de Almeida Albuquerque | |
| "Green Technologies and Air Pollution Remediation" Dr Paulo Cardoso (IPEN) | 2:30pm – 2:35pm |
| "Development of Environmental quality monitoring network in smart cities - EnvCity Project" Prof. Leila D. Martins (UTFPR) | 2:35pm – 2:50pm |
| Q&A session | 2:50pm – 3:10pm |
| Discussion on new proposals | 3:10pm – 5pm |