The liveability of cities worldwide is under threat by the predicted increase in intensity and frequency of heatwaves and the absence of a clear spatial overview of where action to address this. Heat stress impairs vital urban functions (Böcker and Thorsson 2014), hits the local economy (Evers et al. 2020), and brings risks for citizens’ health (Ebi et al. 2021). The ongoing densification of cities may escalate the negative consequences of heat, while rising climate adaptation ambitions require new pathways to (re)design public places for a warmer climate. Currently, policy makers and urban planners rely on remote sensing and modelling to identify potential heat stress locations, but thermal comfort models alone fail to consider socio-environmental vulnerabilities and are often not applicable in different countries (Elnabawi and Hamza 2020).In the Cool Towns Interreg project, researchers collaborated with municipalities and regions to model urban heat stress in nine North-Western European cities, to find vulnerabilities and to measure on the ground (see Spanjar et al. 2020 for methodology) the thermal comfort of residents and the effectiveness of implemented nature-based solutions. Using the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) index, several meteorological scenarios were developed to show the urban areas under threat. The PET maps are complemented by heat vulnerability maps showing key social and environmental indicators. Coupled with local urban planning agendas, the maps allowed partner cities to prioritize neighbourhoods for further investigation. To this end, community amenities and slow traffic routes were mapped on top of the PET maps to identify potential focus areas.A comparative analysis of the collated maps indicates certain spatial typologies, where vital urban activities are often influenced by heat stress, such as shopping areas, mobility hubs, principal bicycle and pedestrian routes. This project has resulted in the development of a multi-level Thermal Comfort Assessment (TCA), highlighting locations where vulnerable user groups are exposed to high temperatures. Standardized for European cities, it is a powerful tool for policy makers and urban planners to strategically identify heat stress risks and prioritize locations for adapting to a changing climate using the appropriate nature-based solutions.
MULTIFILE
Built environments are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Most European towns and cities have developed horizontally over time but are currently in the process of further densification. High-rise developments are being built within city boundaries at an unprecedented rate to accommodate a growing urban population. This densification contributes to the Urban Heat Island phenomenon and can increase the frequency and duration of extreme heat events locally. These new build-up areas, in common with historic city centres, consist mainly of solid surfaces often lacking open green urban spaces.The Intervention Catalogue is the third publication in a series produced by the Cool Towns project and has been designed as a resource for decision makers, urban planners, landscape architects, environmental consultants, elected members and anyone else considering how to mitigate heat stress and increase thermal comfort in urban areas. Technical information on the effectiveness of the full array of intervention types from trees to water features, shading sails to green walls, has been assessed for their heat stress mitigation properties, expressed in Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET). The results shown in factsheets will help the process of making an informed, evidence based, choice so that the most appropriate intervention for the specific spatial situation can be identified.
In the Netherlands, almost everyone has an image of 1930s neighborhoods, post-war neighborhoods, and Vinex locations. That is very different for the neighborhoods with social housing apartments from the 1970s and 1980s. They are forgotten, hardly known, even professionally. And that is a problem because a wave of restructuring and densification projects is imminent for these areas. They are related to the post-war neighborhoods, but also have fundamentally different spatial characteristics. Moreover, within the fragmented practice of spatial development, there is little shared knowledge on plans in other municipalities or housing associations. Even less is known whether these neighborhoods offer space for tackling the persistent housing shortage and solving other major social challenges, such as energy, biodiversity, circularity and inclusion. It is time for an inventory, and this project undertakes the challenge.In the planning for these residential areas, municipalities, developers and housing corporations set the framework, but it is the urban development and architecture firms that have to translate this into concrete design solutions. We focus on these SMEs. With this research project, we map out the ambitions, challenges and opportunities of the restructuring of these residential areas in three steps: What type of plans and ambitions are there for these residential areas? To this end, we investigate cases by means of policy analyses of the environmental visions and area visions. What characterizes the spatial-social structure of these neighborhoods? To this end, we make a comparative spatial-social analysis of several cases, also in relation to pre-war and early post-war ones. What opportunities and challenges does their restructuring offer? To this end, we use the acquired insights to explore strategies in co-creation sessions with external partners. In this presentation, we will share some of the outputs of this process.
MULTIFILE
The city of Amsterdam is well-known for its creative citizens, innovative use of public spaces, and bottom up and informal (citizen) initiatives. Many of these initiatives are endorsed and - after some time - formalised by local government. However, some need to be relocated or disappear due to densification-strategies. This is particularly the case in contexts of urban growth and not unique for Amsterdam. Depending on the specific circumstances, densification strategies compensate densification with nature conservation and/or public space programs. Densification is a contested approach – chiefly because it often entails quantitative approaches that are abstracting specific places into numerical value and generalized policy ambitions that do not resonate with the creative language and practical wisdom and imagination at play in the specific places. Often, these strategies also involve uncertainty regarding their relationship with informal citizen initiatives. Particularly in the urban fringe, we see a variety of initiatives that have developed over the years and which have obtained temporary approval for their activities. In this pop-up research we explore if, and how techniques of research by design contribute to making productive these confrontations – between formal and informal resources, between practical wisdom and generalised knowledge, between local creative-artistic and more general quantitative approaches - with the broader aim to create more sustainable and liveable cities.
