Title: Climate-resilient cities: science and solutions for global urban heat stress

Abstract: Extreme urban heat, driven by climate change and rapid urbanization, poses a growing threat to public health, energy systems, and economic productivity. Yet effective urban heat mitigation is hindered by two key gaps: limited mechanistic understanding of urban heat environment across global cities, and a lack of robust tools to assess the climate and economic tradeoffs of heat mitigation strategies.

My research bridges these gaps by combining urban climate, global climate modelling, and econometric analysis to inform climate-resilient urban planning. In this talk, I first examine how urbanization reshapes surface climate and humid heat stress across global cities, highlighting an overlooked humid heat risk in tropical cities where informal settlements lack access to cooling facilities. I then evaluate the climate and energy impacts of novel building materials under various background climates. Finally, I extend these physical climate insights into policy-relevant outcomes by quantifying the economic costs of the urban heat island, which supports economically rational decision-making in heat interventions.

Together, my work provides a scientific and decision-making foundation for designing effective and equitable heat mitigation strategies in a warming world.

Keer Zhang is a postdoctoral research associate in the High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton University, working with Professor Elie Bou-Zeid. She received her Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from Yale University in 2024 under the supervision of Professor Xuhui Lee, and her B.S. in Atmospheric Science from Sun Yat-sen University, where she worked with Professor Jian Hang. She has an interdisciplinary background in urban climate, climate modelling, and climate economics. Her research investigates the drivers and impacts of urban heat stress and evaluates evidence-based heat solutions for climate-resilient cities. In 2023, she received the Andrew Slater Award from the CESM Land Model Working Group.