Six municipalities join forces to combat increasing heat in cities
Since summer 2023, six municipalities from Germany, Kenya, Egypt, Morocco, and Ukraine have been working together on solutions to better protect their populations from heat and reduce the increasing heat islands in their cities.
From 3 to 6 June 2024, the group came together in Heidelberg as part of the “Connective Cities Deep Dive” to substantiate their pilot projects and learn from the experiences of other cities.
Although the six cities have to adapt to increasing heat in different ways, they have two principles in common, as became clear during their exchange in Heidelberg. If you want to do something strategically and in the long term to combat heat in cities, you need a plan. This is just as true for Aswan in Egypt, where temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius in summer, as it is for Lüdenscheid, which is located in the cooler, densely wooded Sauerland region of Germany. They also strongly believe in the approach of initially testing innovative heat solutions in small pilot projects before implementing them on a larger scale.
There are many ways for cities to reduce the negative heat effects on the population: creating more green spaces, planting shade-providing trees, greening building facades, creating cooling corridors, for example through watercourses, raising public awareness and much more. To do this, it is first important to know where the heat builds up in a city.
