Lukas Beuster

Background

About Lukas Beuster

Umbra)Geographer with experience in both academia as well as the non-profit and development cooperation sectors. I'm interested in urban, regional, and rural development; climate resilience; geographic data science; remote sensing; policy development. My current work explores the role of shade in mitigating urban heat stress. Urban heat is a growing challenge as cities warm faster than rural areas, often surpassing the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Climate Accords. Traditional strategies may not fully address this, so urban planners must explore alternatives like shading, which can effectively reduce Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT), a key factor in outdoor thermal comfort. While planners and designers can’t control all climate variables, they can influence shading through urban design, which is under-researched for large cities. My PhD project aims to measure shade at scale, assess the impact of buildings and trees, and evaluate how well cities provide shade where it’s most needed. In addition to my interest in shade, I am also investigating the role of additional data sources, such as remote sensing and mobile sensing platforms, in improving the availability and coverage of urban climate data.