Climate Service for Resilience to Overheating Risk in Colombo, Sri Lanka

COSMA is an integrative research initiative designed to enhance the resilience of Colombo, Sri Lanka, against increasing heatwave risks and to inform urban planning and architectural design.

The COSMA project addresses the critical challenge of urban overheating in a context where traditional living practices are increasingly undermined by rapid urbanisation. Recognising the unique climatic, architectural, and cultural heritage of Sri Lanka, which offers indigenous strategies for thermal comfort, COSMA seeks to interweave these local insights with state-of-the-art urban meteorological and environmental engineering research.

The project's mission is to develop a nuanced understanding of heatwave dynamics and their interaction with urban form and human activity, enabling the creation of detailed, actionable risk and mitigation maps for Colombo. Engaging a multidisciplinary team alongside local stakeholders, COSMA aims to reinforce community resilience, guide sustainable urban development, and inform policy with localised, data-driven solutions. By integrating indigenous knowledge with innovative research, COSMA aspires to cultivate a model for heatwave resilience that can inform practices in similar urban contexts globally, enhancing the well-being and sustainability of urban environments in the face of climatic adversities.