Designing resilient cities at Arup using Amazon SageMaker geospatial capabilities

This post is co-authored with Richard Alexander and Mark Hallows from Arup.

Arup is a global collective of designers, consultants, and experts dedicated to sustainable development. Data underpins Arup consultancy for clients with world-class collection and analysis providing insight to make an impact.

The solution presented here is to direct decision-making processes for resilient city design. Informing design decisions towards more sustainable choices reduces the overall urban heat islands (UHI) effect and improves quality of life metrics for air quality, water quality, urban acoustics, biodiversity, and thermal comfort. Identifying key areas within an urban environment for intervention allows Arup to provide the best guidance in the industry and create better quality of life for citizens around the planet.

Urban heat islands describe the effect urban areas have on temperature compared to surrounding rural environments. Understanding how UHI affects our cities leads to improved designs that reduce the impact of urban ...