Policy brief: Strengthening local government action on urban heat in Sri Lankan cities: UHI-City resilience scorecard & comprehensive guidance note

This study aims to support Sri Lankan local governments in evaluating and strengthening urban resilience to Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects by developing a locally applicable UHI resilience assessment mechanism and implementation guidance. It seeks to understand how UHI risks are perceived, prioritised, and addressed in Sri Lankan cities, identify barriers and enablers influencing local government action, and provide a practical UHI-focused resilience scorecard aligned with global good practices while considering local capacity constraints.

This policy brief calls for urban heat to be treated as a practical issue in governance, planning, public health, and resilience. It also presents a customised UHi-City resilience Scorecard and accompanying Comprehensive Guidance Note as practical tools for local governments. Together, these tools can help local governments assess present readiness, identify priority gaps, plan short-term and medium-term action, and integrate UHI management into routine local governance.Local governments are central to the solution because they influence land-use decisions, planning approvals, public space design, urban greenery, drainage, local infrastructure, and community engagement. However, current responses remain uneven and fragmented. Urban greening is the most visible intervention, but it is often weakened by poor maintenance, weak targeting, limited finance, fragmented institutional responsibilities, inadequate data, and weak enforcement. Cool materials, routine heat mapping, and enforceable heat-sensitive planning controls are still not well embedded in everyday local practice.