In time for the start of summer, the global fraternity of Chief Heat Officers has grown as cities decide to commit themselves to full-time professionals from the subfield of public design in the face of mounting challenges caused by climate change.

The city of Monterrey, in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, recently announced architect and urban planner Surella Segú as the first-ever head of its new civic office, which is being funded through a partnership with the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock). 

The 2018 Harvard Loeb Fellow is the principal and co-founder of EL CIELO, an 18-year-old practice with a focus on housing and urban renewal, and the former head of the Urban Development at the country’s Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers. 

A graduate of the Columbia University GSAPP and the ITESM, she now holds the fifth official CHO title under the Council's new City Champions for Heat Action initiative, which to date includes Athens, Miami, Santiago, Chile, and Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Monterrey as a city is very susceptible to heat risk due to its relatively high density and long hot season. In order to come up with a workable solution to some of the problems that are currently arising as a result of climate, Mayor Luis Donaldo Colosio Riojas pushed for the city’s inclusion in last year’s COP26 Summit, where, he says, the Council's initiative presented itself as a viable option. 

“We went to Glasgow with the objective of making clear that Monterrey takes tackling the climate emergency seriously,” he said of the experience. “Because of that, we joined forces with Arsth-Rock, and today in an unprecedented act, I am pleased to share that we opened an office where research, work, and solutions will be generated, and very importantly—we’ll also receive resources to increase the quality of life in the municipality hand in hand with a great ally.”

“I am proud to become Monterrey’s Chief Heat Officer and the first one in Mexico and Central America to be entrusted with the important role of not only raising awareness about the dangers of extreme heat but to also identify and implement the climate solutions needed to safeguard our people, particularly our most vulnerable, from the mounting risks that extreme temperatures pose,” Segú said of her appointment. “I look forward to collaborating with Arsht-Rock and my fellow CHOs about the innovative steps they are taking to adapt to and reduce their heat risks for a more sustainable future.”