WORLD CITIES SUMMIT 2026
Cooling Singapore: Solutions for a Heat-resilient City
Background
Singapore is experiencing the impacts of climate change, including rising temperatures exacerbated by the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect.
The Cooling Singapore 2.0 (Urban Climate Risks) team comprises researchers from National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU). They investigate the impact of future heating through three research pillars (RP):
- Heat vulnerability based on socioeconomic factors (SMU — RP 1);
- Physiological and functional limits of children, unacclimatised and older adults (NUS — RP 2); and
- Vegetation and ecosystem services (NTU — RP 3).
Key Developments from the Three Pillars
In RP1, the SMU team developed a Heat Risk Index (HRI) for Singapore to reflect the hazard, exposure and vulnerability parameters contributing to a city’s heat risk levels for the hottest day in 2019, using publicly available demographic, climatic and geospatial data including population census, vegetation, infrastructure and resources. To account for how hazard, exposure and vulnerability differ across day and night, separate HRIs are developed for daytime and nighttime. Through mapping current and future heat risks across Singapore, the HRI could serve as a useful tool to support urban planning and inform heat resilience measures.
In RP2, the NUS team investigated how children, unacclimatised adults and older adults respond to heat stress during exercise, including quantifying heat-related physiological and functional limits. Findings from the research could inform tailored national heat advisories that specify safe exposure and activity durations for each group.
In RP3, the NTU team conducted a systematic review that revealed evidence gaps in the responses of tropical plants to climate change, which currently limit our understanding of how ecosystem services will change in future climates. In addition, RP3 illustrated the use of the InVEST urban cooling model, an open-source decision-support tool that can identify fine-scale heat patterns and quantify the cooling benefits of trees and green spaces across Singapore. By coupling this tool with the InVEST nature access model, the research team further examined the trade-offs between Singapore’s multi-ecosystem services within its park networks.
Conclusion
SMU Professor Winston Chow says: “The Cooling Singapore 2.0 project equips decision-makers with user-friendly tools — including the InVEST model, HRI, heat health thresholds, and more — to combat rising temperatures and support heat-resilient urban planning. This science-driven toolbox helps advance the development of more heat-resilient cities, addressing key domains from heat risk and public health to nature-based solutions.”
SMU Researcher:
Winston Chow
Lee Kong Chian Professor of Urban Climate, SMU College of Integrative Studies;
Pillar Lead, Urban Systems, SMU Urban Institute;
Lee Kong Chian Fellow
Supported by: Beatrice Ho, Yik Sin Kang
Collaborators:
-
Jason Lee
Research Associate Professor in Physiology, National University of Singapore
Supported by: Pearl Tan, Dr Michele Renard, Tay Ling Li Vanes and Wee Faliang Jericho -
Perrine Hamel
Associate Professor in Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University
Supported by: Dr Emma Elizabeth Ramsay and Gong Deyang
Funding organisation: National Research Foundation, Singapore
Read more about this study: Cooling Singapore 2.0 — Urban Heat Island Effect
Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of National Research Foundation, Singapore or government agencies from the Republic of Singapore.