Weather in the City – book launch & panel discussion

Ten years after its well-received publication, Weather in the City. How Design Shapes the Urban Climate is more relevant than ever. Prolonged heat waves are a source of many heat stress related problems, especially in our cities, which tend to exacerbate already high temperatures. At the same time, there is a growing awareness on the part of city dwellers and local councils of the problems caused by certain wind phenomena in the city.

On Thursday, April 10th we launch the brand new, revised edition of Weather in the City and reflect on the past 10 years. What has happened and changed on the topic of urban climate since then? We kick off the evening with a welcome speech by Gerben Mol. Author and landscape architect Sanda Lenzholzer explores new urban climate strategies, followed by a panel discussion with experts Marjolein van Esch (Delft University of Technology), Jeroen Kluck (Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences) David Huijben (design agency CB5), Rixt Hofman (Municipality of Amsterdam) and Sanda Lenzholzer herself. How can the concept of urban climate be effectively integrated into research, policy, and design?

Panel

Sanda Lenzholzer is Full Professor and Chair Holder of the Landscape Architecture group at Wageningen University, Visiting professor at Politecnico di Milano and Principal Investigator at Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS). She studied Landscape Architecture in Germany and Urbanism in the UK. Subsequently she worked as a designer in practice in the Netherlands and Germany. In 2004 she joined Wageningen University. Since then she has specialized in climate-oriented design and methods combining research and design in landscape architecture.

Marjolein van Esch is an assistant professor of Environmental Technology and Design at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment of the Delft University of Technology and academic lead Climate Change Adaptation of the TU Delft Climate Action Program. She specialises in the role of urban design in the urban microclimate on the scale levels of the street and neighbourhood. Focus of her research and teaching are design measures for climate adaptation, the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect and heat stress as well as the influence of the urban climate on the energy use of buildings.

Jeroen Kluck is a Professor at the Climate Resilient City research group at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. With his research group, he investigates how to design cities in a way that ensures residents and businesses can continue to live, work, and spend time there comfortably in the future, considering climate change.

David Huijben is a landscape architect and project leader at CB5, a design agency consisting of architects, urban planners and landscape architects.  He enjoys working on projects concerning climate adaptation and the healthy city. In designing, he incorporates existing qualities and the cultural-historical story of the landscape.

Rixt Hofman is a landscape architect at the department of Urban Planning and Sustainability of the Municipality of Amsterdam. In her work she focuses on green public space and climate adaptation. At the moment she works as project manager on Handboek Groen (Puccini methode) a method on how the municipality of Amsterdam designs, builds and maintains public green areas. Under the Climate Adaptation Programme she developed the Werkwijze Ruimtelijke Klimaatadaptatie a method to implement climate adaptation in the spatial design process. For both methods courses are developed and offered regularly to ensure that colleagues understand the theory and can apply it in their daily work.

Friso Wiersum (moderator) is communications manager for the European Cultural Foundation. He also moderates and hosts debates, presentations and events on cultural policies, international politics, and city planning. Brainwash Festival, IDFA, IMPAKT Festival, nai010 publishers, Spring Utrecht and Tivoli Vredenburg are a couple of the organizations for which he moderated a public event.