Participant Testimonials

PARTICIPANT TESTIMONIALS

October 2024: MANIZALES

UCC is an amazing course, I can't say anything negative about it.

The classes were was always super entertaining and interesting.

UCC gave me a lot of research ideas as we progressed with the topics.

From the first class, the love and passion for the subjects on the part of the teachers is remarkable. I am indeed leaving this course very motivated by the subjects learned.

I was fascinated by the subject of urban climatology and the work of both teachers was impeccable.

I had no idea that the urban climate could be explained on such a detailed scale--this is something revolutionary in my perception of the climate.

The teacher has a mastery of the subject, he answers questions with great respect for the students, and he shared all the information with us--his book and other files--before and during the course.

The course provides students with a wide range of literature, allowing us to continue our study of urban climates after the course finishes.

The topics of UCC were addressed from different areas of knowledge, from city planning and the influence of buildings and parks, to the specific details of the operation of meteorological measuring instruments.

Everything I learned in the course is very useful for the architectural design of buildings and cities.

The course had a very good focus on cities with mountainous topography, despite the fact that the theory regarding the subject is mostly for cities with flat topography.

Most interesting for me was learning the differences between atmospheric temperature and surface temperature, and the difference in temperature that surfaces can have depending on the material.

I acquired a very practical and visual understanding of how heat islands behave in urban environments, and how they depend on a multitude of factors.

My favourite activities were the LCZ Recognition Quiz, which helped me calibrate my intuition about zone identification, and the lab with the LCZ Field Guide, which gave me a step-by-step approach to identifying climate zones.

June 2023: MANIZALES

This course is essential for city development and building design. I beleive that in architecture there should be a mandatory interdisciplinary course similar to this one.

I learned very well the technique to characterize the temperature in every LCZ. That fundamental knowledge is very practical and efficient.

The most impactful aspect of the course was the visit to the climate station, and the labs that put into practice everything that we learned in the lectures.”

I could connect my research to the way that buildings and their geometry affect the wind and thermal confort of neighbouhood inhabitants.

The variety of topics covered allowed the sessions to be fruitful for students with different academic backgrounds.

July 2022: MANIZALES

I'm really interested in urban planning and the knowledge shared with me in this course opened my eyes and my mind. I think the content of the course was really transformative.

The instructor related the course to problems that exist in my country, to which I want to find solutions that will be sustainable over time. This course gave me a base to make these solutions possible.

The course is pragmatic, realistic, and logically structured. The evidence and graphical support presented in the course were impeccable.

The most interesting lecture for me was about urban planning recommendations for the city of Manizales--its application is fundamental and it opens the door to good political and technical decisions.

What I enjoyed most in this course was learning about the urban designs that we need in cities to help reduce global warming and allow a better life for the inhabitants.

What impacted me most was our class discussions, because they put into practice the knowledge we had gained, and made me think deeply about what I was learning.

The theme of this course was very interesting and the instructor has an extensive pedagogical knowledge of the subject.

All aspects of this course were positive, but the most important one was the multidisciplinarity of the participants--we fed each other with opinions based on our different fields and that enriched our learning.

November 2019: MEDELLIN

The analysis of urban climate concepts with examples of studies from all over the world, in a language that was easy to understand, is what I liked most about the course.

The teacher's experience and knowledge from around the world allowed us to understand urban climatology in different contexts and to consider the challenges imposed by the peculiarities of our city.

The topics presented have multiple applications to urban design, sustainable construction, and planning of urban green spaces.

In addition to being very clear about the issues, the teacher made connections with urban design which are fundamental to civil engineering.

"Learning about midlatitude cities aroused interest in me to apply urban climate concepts to tropical cites.

The teacher always communicated in an effective way, using basic and elementary concepts so that we could understand the topics easily.

The teacher inspired me to consider new approaches to my work. The topics were very clear, concepts were reinforced, and new ones were learned.

One of the important aspects of the course is learning about the sites where urban climate data come from.

The most interesting lab was about Local Climate Zones. It taught us a clear and easy way to classify LCZs, and to recognize aspects of each zone using a resource like Google Earth.

The teacher motivated me to think carefully about how to design a climate station network according to different criteria.

I'm quite interested in the topic, even more than when I started the course. Now I have a lot of ideas for my research.

June 2019: MANIZALES

Everything about this course was positive. The only negative was that it was too short.

The teacher knows how to combine diverse topics such as meteorology, air quality, and city design, among others.

The topic of climate-sensitive urban design helped me the most--it is a big responsibility for my profession.

In the classes and laboratories, urban climate comparisons were made in different contexts, with clear and timely examples from the city of Manizales.

The teaching method is very good: it makes complicated concepts seem very simple and easy to understand.

This course reinforced my knowledge of urban hydrology from the point of view of climate. It gave me a more holistic vision of my research area.

The laboratories were very practical--we applied the theoretical concepts learned during the classroom lectures.