Using AI to Model Climate Impacts

A project from the University of Freiburg in Germany assessed how researchers can use artificial intelligence to model the impacts of climate change and calculate ‘thermal stress’ on local infrastructure down to the street level. 

According to an article on Phys.org, the model estimates how heat and thermal stress will impact facilities. “In a simulation as well as on the basis of interviews with representatives from various departments of Freiburg's city administration, the researchers also studied where the project's AI-based tools could actually be put to good use in urban planning, what opportunities, risks, and challenges this would involve, and how the tools should be further adapted for practical use.”

The article adds, “The model still needs to be merged with data on the vulnerability of individual urban spaces, but it can already be used now to evaluate urban planning measures such as the unsealing of surfaces. In addition, the researchers developed a novel method for automatically determining where to plant trees in a neighborhood to achieve the maximum reduction of thermal stress.”