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From Sensemaking to Prioritisation – from 4 to 7 March 2024
Overview
As a second milestone of the Deep Dive process, a workshop was held in Nairobi from 4 to 7 March 2024. The workshop marked the transition from the phase of sensemaking of the local contexts towards prioritization of challenges and solution options. Participants representing the cities of Nairobi, Aswan, Mombasa, Lviv, Lüdenscheid and Heidelberg discussed the observations and findings from the initial participatory field research including insights into how stakeholders and relevant actors perceive challenges related to the phenomenon of urban heat. Additionally, participants had the opportunity to learn about projects and initiatives implemented in Nairobi that are relevant to building resilience to urban heat.
Program
The workshop activities were carried out over three days, and included peer learning, group work and tailored technical inputs from experts in addition to an excursion in Nairobi. A series of peer-to-peer exchange and advisory between the participants who are working in different local conditions was facilitated. Most participants shared similar challenges in existing communication and coordination structures and agreed that changes in these structures and the relevant communication strategies were highly needed to improve status quo, as well as implementing or enforcing relevant laws and regulations. Furthermore, participants highlighted the need for awareness raising and capacity development, as well as engaging different municipal departments in the process.
Based on the prioritisation of challenges, the participants proceeded on the second day of the workshop to formulate ideas for solutions. The participants were asked to abide with the following criteria for their ideas: 1) realisable within 6-12 months, 2) possible for immediate implementation, and 3) realisable using existing resources and partnerships. The ideas addressed the following overarching questions:
- How might we leverage coordinated data, equipment and expertise for reducing urban heat island (UHI)?
- How might we get citizens involved in reducing UHI and its impact?
- How might we facilitate constructive collaboration between key actors for implementing integrated solutions?
- How might we convince political decision maker for enforcing regulation and implementing of UHI solutions?
On the third day of the workshop, participants delved into their suggested ideas for solutions by elaborating on why it is relevant and how it will be implemented. As a final step, participants developed validation plans with a timeline elaborating on steps to be undertaken and the roles of different stakeholders to realise the solution.
The fourth day was dedicated to an excursion in Nairobi to learn about local nature-based solutions on mitigation of Urban Heat Island effect. The sites visited included Michuki Memorial Park, Jivanjee Gardens, and Eastleigh.
Keynotes
Several expert inputs were integrated into the process. This included inputs by Dr. Francis Oloo from Technical University of Nairobi and Dr. Romanus Opiyo and Dr. Sharon Onyango from the Stockholm Environment Institute-Africa. Dr. Oloo highlighted the deficiency in urban heat vocabulary, and contextual challenges including housing and the urban fabric that exacerbate the phenomenon of urban heat. He emphasized the role of initiatives to raise awareness about the topic and building the cognitive knowledge through citizen-driven media coverage, and the need for brief and clear presentation of evidence to policy makers, for example through the use of dashboards.
Presentations
All presented materials can be found on Connective Cities' Community Platform via this link [only for registered members].
Results
Participation in the second milestone of the Deep Dive ‘Heat in the city’ enabled the municipalities to share experiences, and develop ideas for solutions to their identified challenges, which include:
- Lviv (Ukraine): Energy and climate group for communication, coordination, and data leveraging at the municipal level
- Lüdenscheid (Germany): Municipal taskforce for integrated heat planning
- Heidelberg (Germany): Showcasing success stories of greening in growing cities
- Nairobi (Kenya): Planting trees in schools (selection of 10 schools for piloting)
- Aswan (Egypt): Committee for data management and a taskforce for collaboration (led by Aswan and the Urban Development Fund)
- Ben Guerir (Morocco): Mitigating Urban Heat Islands Using Drone-Captured Thermal Imagery
The process of validation with local stakeholders should be completed by June 2024 to enable transiting into piloting of the suggested solution. Overall, the participants valued the momentum for positive change that the Deep Dive process is building and the attention it is creating to the thematic topic, which is widely undermined amidst a multiple-waves of crises.
Report
Coming soon!
Gallery
Categories:
Good Urban Governance
crisis management and disaster preparedness
Integrated urban development
Security in cities
Cities and climate change
Regions:
Africa
Kenya
Nairobi
