Urban Planning

By far the greatest and most admirable form of wisdom is that needed to plan and beautify cities and human communities. 

Socrates

Urban fire safety strategies are typically designed to address fire prevention, detection, and mitigation within individual buildings. However, this approach often overlooks the interactions between structures and the potential for fire to spread from one building to another. While such assumptions may suffice for cities predominantly developed in the 20th century—characterized by non-combustible materials and wide streets—they fall short in the context of modern urban design. The increasing use of flammable materials in energy-efficient and sustainable buildings, particularly in densely populated areas, challenges the adequacy of these strategies. To address this, integrating fire considerations into multi-hazard disaster risk management plans is essential for shaping resilient urban policies and practices for the cities of tomorrow.

As part of the international project Tomorrow's Cities, we develop fire scenarios to create susceptibility maps using a novel Geographic Information System (GIS). These maps inform early decision-making for new urban developments and help adapt fire protection strategies in existing neighborhoods. Additionally, we investigate the hazards associated with emerging technologies, such as batteries and hydrogen systems, and their impacts on current infrastructure. Large-scale tests conducted with industrial partners provide unique datasets that feed into data-assimilation models, enhancing our understanding and improving fire safety solutions.