Climate Action Strategy for City of London - Adaptive Design/Pathways "London's Cubic Mile"

The City of London "Square Mile" is the historic centre of London and the financial and commercial heart of the UK. It is a very high-density urban environment with a low level of greening and few mature trees. Specific modelling carried out by the Met Office (UKCP18) for 'The City' of London indicates that overall winters will be 20% wetter and summers 30% drier with more extreme weather events and sea level rise. Increased rainfall and surface water run-off present an issue for The City, where the presence of hard surfaces and will significantly increase the risk of flooding of high-profile commercial premises. Temperatures and heatwaves will also increase in frequency leading to increased mortality and issues of overheating for The City's people and services.

The future resilience of The City to climate change is high on the City of London Corporation's (CoL) agenda. The aim of this embedded researcher placement between Katy Freeborough, of the British Geological Survey, and the CoL is to support the delivery of the City of London Corporation's Climate Action Strategy 2020-2027. A key strand of this strategy is to improve the resilience of the City to future extreme weather and long-term climatic changes though identification of potential adaptation measures. The 12- month placement will focus on the use of subsurface space to support delivery of the Climate Action Strategy to identify potential opportunities as to how subsurface space may be better used to improve climate resilience. The project will evaluate a range of subsurface climate adaptation options; sustainable urban drainage systems, urban greening and tree planting, cool spaces below ground, ground sourced energy and prevention of damage to buried utility services.

Traditionally subsurface knowledge has been under-utilised in resilience planning as its significance is often misunderstood or underappreciated. Addressing data issues and interpreting technical analysis can be problematic for non-specialists. The research project has been designed to help identify and better understand data, identify suitable locations for surface-subsurface climate resilience adaption measures and support the development of plans for their implementation and future monitoring of their effectiveness.

The placement will provide a platform for surface-subsurface knowledge exchange. The project will identify, collate, examine and understand relevant data and policy sources; explore how best to visualise and represent the 3D information; how to manage data sharing protocols; and provide the level and understanding of data required to fully define options for subsurface use. By working alongside urban planning experts at CoL, Katy will gain greater insight into planning processes and routes to downscale NERC geoscience research for local application delivered through the planning regime.
Fundamentally the placement will answer the question 'How can the urban subsurface help us meet our climate objectives?', and specifically for CoL 'What subsurface measures can be implemented and where?' and 'If current understanding is insufficient, what work is needed to fill the gaps?'.