Kolkata: A new study by IIT Kharagpur researchers has revealed that urban growth patterns play a critical role in shaping future cooling demand, an institute statement said on Thursday.
The research was conducted in collaboration with researchers affiliated with the University of Calcutta, Arizona State University (USA), the National University of Singapore, the University of Texas at Austin (USA), and the University of New South Wales (Australia), the statement said.
The research was published in Nature Communications by a team of IIT Kharagpur PhD scholar Nilabhra Mondal and Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture and Regional Planning, Dr Prashant Anand, it said.
For many years, rising temperatures and the increasing use of air conditioning have been viewed as inevitable consequences of climate change. However, this study reveals a more complex reality.
The future cooling needs of cities are influenced not only by rising global temperatures but also by the ways in which cities have developed and expanded over time, the statement said.
"Cities do not all grow in the same way. Some expand outward rapidly, covering surrounding land with roads and buildings. Others grow vertically, with increasing numbers of taller buildings and denser neighbourhoods," the researchers pointed out.
Some cities develop in a more balanced and compact manner, while others experience irregular and fragmented growth, the study observed.
These different pathways of development leave lasting imprints on urban environment.
As a result, two cities experiencing similar weather conditions may have very different cooling requirements, it said.
Their present and future heat burden is shaped not only by climate, but also by decades of decisions about where people live, how buildings are constructed, how densely neighbourhoods develop, how much greenery is preserved, and how cities expand, the study said.
"In this sense, we can say cities carry a form of 'thermal memory'. The consequences of development choices made many decades ago continue to influence temperatures and energy demand today," they said.
Using two decades of satellite observations and climate data from 2003 to 2023, the study examined 88 Indian cities, including major metropolitan regions such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur.
The global sample comprised 52 representative cities spanning diverse climates and urban forms.
In the United States, these included Dallas, Denver, Austin, Atlanta, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, New York City, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Miami, Seattle, Boston, Baltimore, Portland, and Houston.
European cities included London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Vienna, Milan, Budapest, Prague, Munich, Manchester, Brussels, Barcelona, Lisbon, Porto, and Athens.
Asian cities included Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka, Beijing, Wuhan, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Dhaka, Chattogram, and Singapore, while the Australian sample included Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth.
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.
