How Urban Development Shapes Future Cooling Demand

How Urban Development Shapes Future Cooling Demand

A new study by IIT Kharagpur researchers, published in Nature Communications, reveals that urban growth patterns significantly influence future cooling demand in cities. The research highlights that a city's "thermal memory," shaped by decades of development decisions, impacts its heat burden and energy requirements, independent of global temperature rises. The study analysed 88 Indian cities and a global sample of 52 cities over two decades.