Building urban resilience through natural infrastructure

About RICL

Our world has become urban. While this opens up opportunities, it also exacerbates some environmental and social challenges such as flooding, urban heat island, or mental and physical health issues. Conserving and creating natural infrastructure–parks, trees, green roofs, urban forests–can respond to these challenges by leveraging important natural benefits such as retaining water, cooling the air, providing opportunities for recreation, and supporting climate solutions.

The Resilient and Inclusive Cities Lab at Nanyang Technological University's Asian School of the Environment aims to increase the evidence base on the role of natural infrastructure for urban resilience and climate adaptation in Asia-Pacific and inform policy and practice to create more resilient and inclusive cities. The research is supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation (NRFF12-2020-0009).

Perrine Hamel is an Associate Professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU)’s Asian School of the Environment. Her research and teaching focus on nature-based solutions, ecosystem-based management, and water resource management.

Prior to joining NTU, she was a senior scientist with the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University, where she conducted ecosystem services assessments and developed decision-support tools. She is also the co-founder of Pulse, an AI-powered software as a service (SaaS) platform designed to make nature-positive engagement accessible, actionable, and regionally grounded for businesses in Southeast Asia.

She graduated with a Master in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Ecole Centrale Nantes, France, and a PhD from Monash University, Australia, and has previously worked as an environmental engineer in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.