Exploring heat in the street space, or reimagining the street through a heat lens?

Tuesday, 23 June 2026, 11.30am to 12.30pm

Urban warming and heatwaves are challenging the resilience of urban systems. Income inequality and the uneven distribution of development and infrastructure further exacerbate this complexity in the Global South. In this context, most Asian cities face high-density urbanisation and often haphazardly placed outdoor spaces, although these cities are the most vulnerable to heat-related mortality and morbidity. Dr Shreya Banerjee navigates this duality using a mixed-method approach to explore sustainable heat scape in the outdoor spaces and streets of Asian megacities. Employing a combination of lived experiences, sensor-based data collection, observational meteorology and exploratory analysis, she seeks to explore how we can inform heat justice and ensure access to heat resilient outdoor spaces and streets for vulnerable demographics such as the elderly, street vendors and marginalised women. Drawing evidence from her fieldwork conducted on elderly public transit riders in the Indian city of Jodhpur; and women pedestrians in Jodhpur and Kathmandu (the capital of Nepal), she identifies the drivers, barriers, and mechanisms of heat resilience corresponding to spatial, social, economic, physiological and microclimatic factors for varying cities and demographics. Her research can further inform street design guidelines for comfortable walking, bicycling, and outdoor activities during extreme heat.

Speaker(s): Dr Shreya Banerjee (Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture and Regional Planning at IIT Kharagpur, India; GCHU Visiting Global Research Associate)

Venue: Kellogg College - Kellogg College 62 Banbury Road Oxford Oxfordshire OX2 6PN United Kingdom

Department: Kellogg College (College)

Organiser: GCHU

Host: Global Centre on Healthcare and Urbanisation

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exploring-heat-in-the-street-space-tickets-1990767882326?aff=oddtdtcreator