Urban Heat Resilience Research and Knowledge Management Support

Extreme heat is an increasingly important climate and urban development challenge across Asia and the Pacific, affecting public health, livelihoods, infrastructure, energy systems and the liveability of cities. Vulnerable populations, including low-income communities, outdoor workers, older persons, women, children and persons with disabilities, often face disproportionate risks.

ESCAP is implementing several initiatives to strengthen urban heat resilience and support cities in translating evidence into practical action. These initiatives include city-level heat-risk assessments, development of Urban Heat Action Plans, capacity-building and stakeholder engagement, implementation of selected pilot interventions, and regional knowledge exchange.

As part of this work, ESCAP is strengthening an Urban Heat Resilience Community of Practice to facilitate peer learning, share practical experiences and resources, and connect cities and practitioners working on extreme heat across the Asia-Pacific region.
ESCAP is seeking an Online Volunteer to support the consolidation and translation of relevant knowledge and experience into practical resources that can strengthen the Community of Practice and support city-to-city learning.

The objective of the assignment is to support ESCAP in preparing a draft Urban Heat Resilience Knowledge and Community of Practice Resource Package that brings together relevant city experiences, tools, case studies and lessons and makes them more accessible to policymakers, practitioners and city stakeholders.

The assignment will help connect lessons emerging from ESCAP-supported city-level work with wider regional and international experience and strengthen the foundation for continued peer learning and knowledge exchange on urban heat resilience.

Under the guidance of ESCAP's Sustainable Urban Development Section, the Online Volunteer will conduct desk-based research, organize and synthesize relevant information, and prepare draft knowledge resources on urban heat resilience for ESCAP's review.

The assignment will include:
- Mapping relevant organizations, city networks, initiatives, platforms, tools and knowledge resources working on urban heat resilience in Asia and the Pacific and internationally.
- Identifying and documenting practical city examples related to areas such as heat action planning, early warning and preparedness, cooling centres, occupational heat protection, cool roofs and passive cooling, nature-based solutions, urban greening, heat monitoring and heat-responsive urban planning.
- Synthesizing relevant lessons and experiences emerging from ESCAP-supported urban heat activities, including, where appropriate, documenting the planning and implementation of selected city-level pilot interventions, with particular attention to implementation processes, stakeholder engagement, monitoring, sustainability and opportunities for replication.
- Identifying relevant approaches and resources related to financing and investment for urban heat resilience, where appropriate.
- Organizing findings into practical, practitioner-oriented draft materials that can support city-to-city learning and future Community of Practice activities.
- Supporting the identification of potential topics, speakers, cities, organizations and resources for future knowledge-exchange activities or webinars.
- Developing recommendations for maintaining and further strengthening the Community of Practice and its knowledge resources.

The assignment will focus on desk-based research, knowledge organization and the preparation of draft knowledge resources for ESCAP's review. ESCAP will retain responsibility for the technical review, validation and finalization of any materials developed through the assignment.