The UNDP Accelerator Lab in North Macedonia has compiled a collection of roughly 250 desk notes (referred to here as “the dataset”) on urban cooling solutions from around the world. These range from policy measures, to infrastructure design and architecture, to technological solutions. Each note includes a short description of the solution, some high-level geographic information, a link to the solution’s official webpage or mention in the media, and (in most cases) one or more images that illustrate the solution. These are shared here as cards to facilitate workshop activities.
Note this is a collection of notes shared primarily for inspiration. The solutions showcased here are not endorsed in any way by the UNDP Accelerator Labs, or by UNDP.
Find out more about the solutions, and browse other collections at solutions.sdg-innovation-commons.org/.
The United Nations estimates that by 2050, roughly 70% of the world's population will live in urban areas, many of which are increasingly exposed to high temperatures and humidity levels. There is a need to find ways to address the urban heat island effect, particularly as extreme heat events become more frequent and intense due to climate change.
It is essential to consider both active and passive cooling solutions. Active cooling solutions, like air conditioning, can be effective, but they are generally energy consuming, and can affect greenhouse gas emissions. Conversely, passive cooling solutions, like natural ventilation, shading, or thermal insulation, seem more sustainable, but their effectiveness varies according to local climate and environmental conditions.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)] Accelerator Labs are a network of 91 social innovation labs operating in 115 countries, integrated in the UNDP system of country offices. Each lab is set up to explore local trends of sustainable development problems, to identify and map local solutions to those problems, and to test the potential for growth of those solutions. Examples of such findings include identifying informal economic systems and enabling the people who use them to acquire loans even though they don’t have a formal banking history or techniques of water reclamation and reuse for farming in water-scarce areas. The Accelerator Labs document such initiatives, bring the public and officials’ attention to them, and work to help them grow.
Beyond the Accelerator Labs, UNDP works in 170 countries and territories in partnerships with other UN agencies, governments, the private sector and civil society to build resilience and accelerate indigenous (domestic) public sector innovation towards meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
- Rabia Demirci
- Isaac Koomson
- Pauline Rukani
- Ardita Zekiri
- Ardita Zekiri
- Jeremy Boy