The Urban Futures: Navigating the Path to Sustainable and Resilient Cities Webinar, organized by the GATE Institute and the Center for Computational Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Japan, with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Tokyo, gathered listeners and participants from 5 continents and 48 countries . The event is part of the partnership initiatives between the GATE Institute and the Center for Computational Sciences, University of Tsukuba following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions last month.
On July 12, 2024 urban climate experts, public sector representatives, researchers, students and sustainability enthusiasts discussed innovative strategies and best practices to help the cities of tomorrow.
The webinar was opened by the ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria in Japan, H.E. Marieta Arabadzhieva, the director of the GATE Institute, Prof. Silvia Ilieva and Prof. Taisuke Boku, director of the Center for Computational Sciences of the University of Tsukuba.
Six lecturers from three continents presented topics related to the latest advancements in technologies for urban heat reduction , tackling urban heat islands, and climate change in cities.
Dr. Rafiq Hamdi of the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium presented the key findings of the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an eight-year undertaking by the world’s most authoritative scientific body on climate change.
Prof. Matamio Simwanda from Copperbelt University, Zambia introduced the audience to urban heat island problems in 4 fast-growing African cities, and the representative of the University of Perdeniya in Sri Lanka talked about a study of urban climate with neighborhood characteristics and land use.
Climate approaches to improve the resolution of models to identify the causes and consequences of climate change were explored by prof. dr. Quang-Van Doan, University of Tsukuba’s Center for Computational Science.
Dr. Ansar Khan of the University of Calcutta, India, presented the latest advances in urban heat reduction technology.
Dr. Lidiya Vitanova, researcher from the GATE Institute presented applications for Urban Heat Islands: Integrating Data to Address Environmental Thermal Dynamics at a Neighborhood Scale, presenting her research on the city of Sofia.