“There are limits to what can be achieved by rethinking a city only one building at a time. Even the most cutting-edge buildings can negatively influence their surroundings in unforeseen ways.”
Singapore’s prime minister has described climate change as “life and death.” He has reason to worry: Stifling temperatures and humidity already last all year, and the city-state has warmed at twice the global average over the past six decades.
Heat like this isn’t just uncomfortable. It can cause chronic illness and death, including heat exhaustion, kidney damage and even heart attacks. With two-thirds of the global population expected to live in urban areas by 2050, urban heat is an enormous global health challenge.
Rapid urbanization has made Singapore hotter. A big part of the problem is how almost every global city is built.
— Pablo Robles, John Holder and Jeremy White, New York Times