This applied research project aims to generate a better understanding of the effects of heatwaves on vulnerable population groups in the municipality of The Hague, and suggests ways in which the municipality can help such groups to cope with these heatwaves. The research was performed as a cooperation between The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS), the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS, Erasmus University Rotterdam) and the International Centre for Frugal Innovation (ICFI, Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities).

Heatwaves constitute an important yet often overlooked part of climate change and their impacts qualify as disasters. According to the World Disasters Report 2020, the three heatwaves affecting Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in the summer of 2019 caused 3,453 deaths.1 2020 was a new record year for the Netherlands because it was the first time that a heatwave included five days in a row during which the temperature reached 35 degrees or more. In addition, 40 degrees was measured for the first time, and periods of tropical days and nights are generally getting longer. Most importantly, this trend is accelerating faster than the climate change models are predicting.2 In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic is compounding the effect of heatwaves, as vulnerable individuals may be reluctant to seek cool spaces out of fear of infection.

Already in 2006, the Netherlands ranked near the top of the global disaster index due to the number of excess deaths that could be attributed to the heatwave. In the same year, the EU published the first climate strategy in which heat is recognised as a priority. In 2008, the Netherlands developed its first national heat plan.4 The municipality of The Hague has a municipal climate adaptation strategy and has developed a draft local heat plan in the summer of 2021, which was published in February 2022 . This research was not meant to be and was not set up as an evaluation of the current heat plan, which has not yet been activated.

At the level of municipalities and cities, the concept of urban resilience is key. It refers to “the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt, and grow no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience”.

Heatwaves clearly constitute acute shocks which are rapidly developing into chronic stresses. In turn, heatwaves also exacerbate the chronic stresses that are already there, i.e. existing chronic stresses also lead to greater impact of a heatwave. In other words, there are negative interaction effects. Addressing these effects requires overcoming the silo approach to urban governance, in which different municipal departments as well as other stakeholders (such as the Red Cross, housing corporations, tenants’ associations, care organisations, entrepreneurs etc.) each address different parts of the problem, rather than doing so in an integrated and inclusive manner.



The dataset for this study is archived in DANS Easy: https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-xeb-h8uk