Urban Heat Islands (UHI): Understanding the Context of Climatic, Cultural and Physical Conditions in Urban Environments

["Discover the various aspects of the built environment and Urban Heat Islands and learn how to develop more resilient cities!In this two-week intensive course, you will get a deep insight into the subject of “urban heat” and get the opportunity to develop GIS skills. You will learn about the relation between human-made and natural factors on the built environment, how responsive planning and design strategies can serve for mitigation, and how practical design solutions can be created that respond to urban heat in a spatial, cultural, and social context. During the course, you will also be acquainted with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in order to map heat islands for different case studies, interpret and discuss those data with experts and leverage your own experience of perceiving urban heat into a scientific context.Acquire an interdisciplinary and transcultural perspective on the urban heat island effect and develop an integrated design approach to reduce urban heat: looking at urban heat in a holistic way, participants will understand urban heat islands from the micro-level to the macro-level; from open space and building-scale to the urban context on the neighbourhood, city and regional scale. The course also introduces impact and vulnerability caused through urban heat, presents preventive or adaptive measures, and shows how their implementation also depends on cultural values and lifestyles. At the end, participants will develop an integrated design proposal that supports climate-sensitive solutions to reduce heat for their selected study case.Lectures, discussions and two site visits in Weimar will take place in the morning and GIS training in the afternoon. The city of Cairo will serve as a main study case along the course."]