GreenCities project logo

NERC-FAPESP Informed Greening of Cities for Urban Cooling (GreenCities)

Start date

October 2022

End date

September 2024

Vision

“Are the cooling benefits provided by urban parks reduced by high humidity in the humid tropics, and does this vary with time of day and season?”

GreenCities will establish a new international partnership between leading urban researchers in the University of Surrey, the University of São Paulo, Brazil, the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and other Brazilian institution partners.

The collaboration focuses on key knowledge gaps in our understanding of how urban green infrastructure (GI) provides cooling in tropical regions. It builds on partner strengths in atmospheric physics and atmospheric chemistry, ecosystem modelling, science engagement and community groups.

Objectives

The GreenCities international partnership is designed to bring together leading UK and Brazilian scientists. The overall goal is to build an international partnership around innovative measurement approaches to better understand the cooling effects and other co-benefits that urban GI can provide.

The specific objectives of the GreenCities are to:

  • Make use of existing state-of-the-art eddy covariance infrastructure to provide additional data on cooling benefits of urban parks
  • Use the latest technology with citizen science and public engagement to supplement fixed infrastructure measurements and improve the spatial resolution of flux data
  • Create a dynamic modelling tool which incorporates these advances to better represent the benefits of urban parks and how they change daily and seasonally, as a tool for decision-making
  • Create a long-lasting collaboration among Brazilian and UK scientists bringing innovative approaches to solve urban solutions.

Funders

GreenCities project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (Grant number: NE/X002799/1) and FAPESP - São Paulo Research Foundation (Grant number: 22/02365-5).

Funding amount

£125,000

Team

Co-investigators

Professor Leandro Luiz Giatti

University of São Paulo

Professor Adelaide Cassia Nardocci

University of São Paulo

Dr Paulo Sergio Cardoso da Silva

Energy and Nuclear Research Institute, IPEN/CNEN-SP

Professor Edmilson Dias de Freitas

University of São Paulo

Professor Regina Maura de Miranda

University of São Paulo

Dr Carlos Eduardo Souto-Oliveira

University of São Paulo

Professor Thiago Nogueira

University of São Paulo

Professor Taciana Toledo

Federal University of Minas Gerais

Professor Leila Martins

Federal Technology University, Parana - UTFPR

Professor Pedro Perez-Martinez

University of Campinas - UNICAMP

Dr Silvia Ribeiro de Souza

Institute of Environmental Research, State of São Paulo

Professor Giuliano Locosselli

University of São Paulo

Professor Laurence Jones

UKCEH

Researchers

Sarkawt Hama profile image

Dr Sarkawt Hama

Research Fellow (ASAP-Delhi project)

Sisay Debele profile image

Dr Sisay Debele

Research Fellow (OPERANDUM Project)

Dr Ana Paula Mendes Emygdio

Researcher

Dr David Fletcher

Researcher

Alice Fitch

Researcher

Jeetendra Sahani profile image

Dr Jeetendra Sahani

Postgraduate Research Student

Soheila Khalili profile image

Soheila Khalili

Postgraduate Research Student

Leiticia Figueiredo Candido

PhD student

News

Workshops

Online workshop

Half-day online workshop on 24 March 2023 at 1pm - 5pm UK time (10am - 2pm São Paulo time) – online registration link will be available soon.

Kick-off workshop

GreenCities first kick-off workshop (hybrid, in-person and online).

  • Date: 1 November 2022, 9am - 5pm (São Paulo Time)
  • Location: São Paulo, Brazil
  • Venue: Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo (FSP-USP) Anfiteatro Paula Souza. Av. Dr. Arnaldo, 715 - São Paulo, Brazil
  • Online registration link: register for the GreenCities kick-off workshop.

Programme

AgendaSao Paulo local time

Introduction and welcome panel

Professor Adelaide Nardocci (FSP-USP)

Professor Maria de Fatima Andrade (IAG-USP)

Professor Thiago Nogueira (FSP-USP)

9am – 9:10am

Session 1 - Implementation of GreenCities

Project Co-Chairs: Professor Maria de Fatima Andrade (IAG-USP) and Professor Prashant Kumar (University of Surrey)

Overview of the GreenCities project

Professor Prashant Kumar Director, Global Centre for Clean Air Research, University of Surrey

9:10am – 9:25am

WP1 - Enhanced eddy covariance measurements of heat and water vapour fluxes

"Ecosystem services from Functional Forests"

Professor Giuliano Locosselli (Cena-USP)

"CO2 and H2O fluxes in the scope of Metroclima project"

Professor Maria de Fatima Andrade

9:25am – 9:55am
Q&A session9:55am – 10:25am

WP2 - Citizen science to support data collection and public engagement

"Citizen science engagement through thermography technique"

Professor Prashant Kumar

10:25am – 10:40am
Q&A session10:40am – 11:10am

WP3 - Ecosystem services modelling and incorporation into decision support tools

Professor Laurence Jones (UKCEH) - Online

11:10am – 11:25am
Q&A session11:25am – 11:40am
Coffee break11:40am – 12 noon
WP4 - Build partnership12 noon – 12:15pm
Q&A session12:15pm – 12:30pm
Discussion on synergies and finalise plan for the work ahead12:30pm – 1pm
Lunch break1pm – 2:30pm
Session 2 - relevant projects and discussion on other call submissions

Chair: Professor Taciana Toledo de Almeida Albuquerque
"Green Technologies and Air Pollution Remediation"

Dr Paulo Cardoso (IPEN)
2:30pm – 2:35pm
"Development of Environmental quality monitoring network in smart cities - EnvCity Project"

Prof. Leila D. Martins (UTFPR)
2:35pm – 2:50pm
Q&A session2:50pm – 3:10pm
Discussion on new proposals3:10pm – 5pm

View this programme as a PDF

Research themes

Find out more about our research at Surrey: