Rajkot Becomes First Indian City to Pilot Global Urban Cooling Action Plan

The Indian city of Rajkot has been selected by UNEP and partners as the first city in India to develop an Urban Cooling Plan. ICLEI South Asia is the technical partner to UNEP in this project. A customised methodology is being developed for the city, in partnership with the UNEP-led Cool Coalition, which plans to coordinate and integrate municipality-led action on extreme heat and sustainable cooling.

Rajkot, located in a semi-arid zone, experiences very hot and dry summers, increasing urban heat island effects and extreme weather events, leading to a growing demand for cooling. Since concerted effort across all sectors is required, the new project will help to bring together all municipal departments and relevant agencies on one platform for developing and implementing an integrated urban cooling plan that prioritises the development of green spaces, energy efficiency in buildings, district cooling and other active and passive cooling solutions.

A project introduction meeting was held with Rajkot’s Municipal Commissioner Mr. Amit Arora in July 2021, followed by the commencement of work to conduct a baseline situation analysis.

A report on existing initiatives, barrier analysis, and solutions for urban cooling in Rajkot has been prepared. It includes a review of existing plans, policies, guidelines, standards, and ongoing programmes of the city, besides supporting strategies related to urban cooling and extreme heat; a list of stakeholders involved in urban cooling-related initiatives;  detailed barrier analysis on the uptake and implementation of guidelines, standards and related sustainability efforts based on stakeholders’ consultation; and recommendations and integrated solutions for urban cooling and extreme heat.

In the coming months, the city’s surface and atmospheric urban heat profile will be prepared through GIS mapping to identify hotspot wards, based on the highest urban heat island intensity values. Later, based on discussions with the RMC, one ward will be selected from the three identified hotspot wards for neighbourhood scale thermal assessment through drone mapping and recommendations, and retrofit solutions will be proposed for the pilot area.

ICLEI WORLD SECRETARIAT
Kaiser-Friedrich-Str. 7
53113 Bonn
Germany
T: +49-228/97 62 99-00
F.+49-228/97 62 99-01 Email: iclei.org
EUROPE
European Secretariat
Leopoldring 3
79098 Freiburg, Germany
www.iclei-europe.org
Brussels Office
Av. de Tervuren 35
1040 Bruxelles
Belgium
Berlin Office
St. Oberholz ROS Team Room 4.02 Rosenthaler Str. 72a 10119 Berlin, Germany
AFRICA SECRETARIAT
Physical address:
3 Knowledge Park
Century City
Cape Town
8001
South Africa
Postal address:
PO Box 5319
Tygervalley
7536
South Africa
www.iclei.org/africa
NORTH AMERICA
Canada Office
401 Richmond St. W
Studio 204
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 3A8, Canada
www.iclei.org/canada
USA Office
536 Wynkoop St.
Suite 901
Denver, Colorado
USA 80202
www.icleiusa.org
MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Mexico, Central American and Caribbean Secretariat
Eje Central Lazaro Cardenas 13 Building Miguel Abed, Floor 5 Office 506 and 507, Col. Centro, CP 06050 Del. Cuauhtemoc, Mexico City, Mexico
www.iclei.org.mx
Colombia Office
Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá Carrera 53 N° 40A - 31 Medellín, Antioquia – Colombia
ICLEI Argentina
Boulevard Gálvez, 1150 Planta Alta. Santa Fe, Argentina
SOUTH AMERICA
South America Secretariat Brazil Project Office
Rua Ibiraçu, 226, Vila Madalena
São Paulo / SP - Brazil
CEP 05451-040
www.iclei.org.mx
SOUTH ASIA
South Asia Secretariat
ICLEI South Asia, Road, Block C, Green Park Extension, Green Park, New Delhi, Delhi 110016, India
southasia.iclei.org
EAST ASIA
East Asia Secretariat
14/F, Seoul Global Center Building, 38 Jongno, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea (110-110)
eastasia.iclei.org
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Southeast Asia Secretariat
c/o The Manila Observatory Ateneo de Manila University Campus Loyola Heights, Quezon City 1101 Manila, Philippines
seas.iclei.org
ICLEI Indonesia Project Office
Rasuna Office Park III WO. 06-09 Komplek Rasuna Epicentrum Jl. Taman Rasuna Selatan, Kuningan DKI Jakarta, 12960, Indonesia
OCEANIA
Oceania Secretariat
Level 1, 200 Little Collins Street Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
icleioceania.org
Advocacy
Training
Consultancy
Research
Associate Partnership
Associate Partnership
Associate Partnership
Associate Partnership
Associate Partnership
ICLEI membership application
ICLEI membership application
ICLEI membership application
ICLEI membership application
ICLEI membership application
Want to be a model?
Want to be a model?
Want to be a model?
Want to be a model?
Want to be a model?
ICLEI membership online application form
ICLEI membership online application form
ICLEI membership online application form
ICLEI membership online application form
ICLEI membership online application form