Cool Towns: taking cool measures against urban heat

Making cities climate-proof

Cool Towns aimed to counteract the negative effects of climate change and find attractive solutions that make cities climate-proof and robust so that heat stress is prevented or limited as much as possible. The project brought together leading European research/academic institutions, governmental organisations and industries from the climatology and climate change adaptation domains.

Heat stress tool

AUAS researchers were working on a heat stress tool for urban environments. This is in collaboration with partners in an international and multidisciplinary team. The tool supports municipal decision making around climate adaptation, for example in ‘greening’ cities. 

Several pilot areas

Under the leadership of the AUAS, the involved regions and municipalities were mapping the heat stress problems in their pilot areas and experimenting with ‘cool’ measures that reduce the heat in cities. The pilot studies were directly contributing to the development of the decision-making tool. Alongside this, training materials were being developed to make the solutions more accessible for mid-sized European cities.

Results

How can municipalities systemically map heat stress? The answer can be found in the Urban Heat Atlas(opens in new window). The Heat Stress Measurement Protocol(opens in new window) developed for Cool Towns is designed to identify heat risks in cities. In the Urban Heat Atlas, the researchers show how this works and analyze the situation in ten pilot cities in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Great Britain.

Different cooling measures were also tested in the ten cities, such as planting different tree species, installing water features and hanging shade cloths. All tested measures and their effectiveness can be found in the Cool Towns Intervention Catalogue(opens in new window). From this, policymakers, urban planners, planners and architects can draw inspiration to provide the necessary cooling in their own municipalities.

Partners and funding

Cool Towns has received funding from the Interreg 2 Seas Programme 2014 – 2020. The AUAS’ research activities are also supported by the Dutch provinces of Noord-Holland and Zeeland. Visit the European project website, cooltowns.eu for more information and a full partner overview.