Theme Discovery Consultant Urban Heat Island Solutions Consultant

Post of Duty: Washington, DC

The IDB Group is a community of diverse, versatile, and passionate people who come together on a journey to improve lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our people find purpose and do what they love in an inclusive, collaborative, agile, and rewarding environment.

About this position

The Housing and Urban Development Division (CSD/HUD) supports national and local governments to promote sustainable urban development in the region. Among several pressing issues the cities in Latin America are facing, the division focuses on generating and disseminating innovative tools that improve housing affordability, accessibility, and quality. To do so, it works with a wide array of public and private stakeholders involved in cross-cutting issues.

In 2017, HUD established the Cities LAB to promote civic innovation and urban experimentation in LAC cities through the iterative work and the implementation of pilots to achieve a more sustainable, inclusive, equitable urban development in the Region. The Cities LAB activities contribute to the generation of new and disruptive practices and processes around urban planning and development in LAC. The Cities LAB works directly with the client cities of the Bank and with the operational divisions within the IDB Group to support multisectoral operations and to improve effectiveness in the delivery of development assistance to the countries of the region. The Cities Lab works in a single service platform with the Cities Network in all activities related to capacity building and knowledge exchange around innovation, leveraging solutions with internal and external resources.

The Urban Heat Island Effect denotes the higher temperature that cities (urban soil) present when compared to the surrounding areas (e.g. agricultural land, forest, water bodies, etc.). The increase of temperature responds to several factors like materiality, color, texture, among others, of the different urban surfaces. The urban surfaces accumulate energy received by the Sun and other sources of heat, that is released to the surrounding environment in the form of radiation. In a context of increasing temperatures worldwide, cities with vast amount of surfaces that accumulate heat pose a manifold of threats to residents, access to public space, infrastructure, productivity and urban ecosystems. It is therefore of high relevance to identify where and how certain areas of the cities are accumulating excess of heat, in order to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate solutions that could mitigate the existent problem, and strengthen the urban resilience against the temperature raise trend.

The Cities Laboratory from the IDB is particularly interested in exploring solutions that address the diagnosis of Urban Heat Islands, so decision takers and residents can take informed action to reduce its effect. Data analysis, remote sensing, IA, civic data, and other tools can be used to provide sound information regarding the location and intensity of heat islands in the cities. Additionally, solutions related to planning interventions to reduce the impact of urban heat islands are of interest in this study, including participatory processes, scenario simulation and city digital twins. This study also focuses on the diverse types of solutions that are being implemented in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean to mitigate the impact of urban heat island, at the city, neighborhood, and building scales. Last but not least, solutions related to monitoring and evaluation of solutions are also relevant for this study. In summary, this study pursues the identification of solutions that could serve as a toolbox for extreme high temperatures risk management in cities. Along with the solutions, the study aims to identify stakeholders form the public sector that have successfully implementing solutions against urban heat islands, as well as private sector, NGOs, or academia whose services, products, and prototypes are helping to cool down the cities.

This consultancy will help structure and identify the latest opportunities, trends, and actors related to addressing urban heat islands. It will also outline ways forward, including promising areas to look out for and partnership opportunities for the IDB.

The result and learnings will be shared with relevant parties interested within the IDB Group in the form of knowledge-sharing presentations and a Discovery Paper. This paper will map relevant trends, challenges, actors, and initiatives around the topic of extreme temperatures and heat island effect in Latin America and the Caribbean and will also identify new project opportunities for the Cities Laboratory. This consultancy also aims to identify leads about innovative and scalable, private sector and third sector/NGO -led solutions that could be of interest of the other members from the IDB Group.

We are looking for a knowledgeable, methodical, and proactive Theme Discovery Consultant. As Theme Discovery Consultant, you will identify, organize, and present opportunities, actors, projects, and trends related to innovative solutions to diagnose Urban Heat Islands, and plan, implement, monitor and evaluate solutions to mitigate them.

You will work in the IDB Cities Lab part of HUD/CSD.

What you’ll do:

· Conduct research using several available methodologies and sources to explore the potential of innovative solutions to diagnose urban heat islands, as well as solutions to mitigate their impacts in the cities from Latin America and the Caribbean. The consultant should also contact reference points in the region to identify new actors and initiatives, using a snowball methodology.

· Prepare a map and database of actors and the solutions they have/offer. Develop and validate a definition of which firms/corporations, star-ups, NGOs, think tanks, public agencies, academic institutions, individuals, financial intermediaries, etc. This map should have both a graphic presentation and a database which includes relevant information on the type of actor, including contact information. It is relevant to guarantee the representation of the widest variety of countries possible.

· Write a Discovery paper presenting the results of the research process and supporting the definition of future projects in this topic. The paper should:

o Summarize the above-described database and map.

o Describe at least 10 success stories in LAC (with a mix of firms, start-ups, and public sector), including a short story for each one that can be shared in social media and different channels including the IDB blogs.

o Make recommendations (including contents) for a communication strategy and dissemination of results.

o The report must be a final product, which follows IDB publication guidelines and formatting, and will be complemented with a PowerPoint presentation including its conclusions.

o The consultant will work with a design company.

· Prepare and participate in presentations with relevant actors within the IDB Group. The Consultant is expected to have detailed informative sessions, one-on-one discussions, and other meetings on potential project opportunities.

Deliverables and Payments Timeline:

Deliverable #

Percentage

Planned Date to Submit

#1: Workplan

10%

Two weeks after signing the contract

#2: Map of actors

20%

One month after presenting the workplan

#3: Database of actors

20%

Three months after presenting the workplan

#4: Discovery paper

50%

Two months after presenting the database of actors

What you'll need

· Education: Master’s degree (or equivalent advanced degree) in urban studies, architecture, engineering, urban design, business, public administration, or other fields relevant to the responsibilities of the role.

· Experience: At least 5 years of progressive experience in areas of innovation, entrepreneurship, climate change, engineering, urban planning, among others related to the objectives of the consultancy.

· Languages: Proficiency in Spanish and English, spoken and written, is required. Additional knowledge of French and Portuguese is preferable.

Key skills:

· Experience in publications of knowledge products in related areas.

· Proactiveness in communication with team members.

· Attention to detail.

· Willingness towards problem-solving.

Requirements:

· Citizenship: You are a citizen of one of our 48-member countries.

· Consanguinity: You have no family members (up to the fourth degree of consanguinity and second degree of affinity, including spouse) working at the IDB, IDB Invest, or IDB Lab.

Type of contract and duration:

· Type of contract: Products and External Services Consultant (PEC), Lump Sum.

· Length of contract: 6 months

· Work Location: Remote

What we offer

The IDB group provides benefits that respond to the different needs and moments of an employee’s life. These benefits include:

· A competitive compensation package.

· A flexible way of working. You will be evaluated by deliverable.