Cool Towns Heat Stress Measurement Protocol

Cool Towns project

Heat stress in big cities is a topic that has been high on the agenda in Europe for many years. Heat stress is not limited to the metropolises: small and mid-sized cities are affected too. The Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences has been working with 12 European partners in the project Cool Towns, which aimed to help European municipalities tackle the problem of heat stress.

Climate proofing cities

Cities are confronted with more frequent heatwaves of increasing intensity, discouraging people from using urban open spaces that are part of their daily lives. Climate proofing cities is an incremental process that should begin where it is needed using the most cost-efficient solutions to mitigate heat stress.

However, for this to be achieved the factors that influence the thermal comfort of users, such as the layout of local spaces, their function and the way people use them needs to be identified first. There is currently little evidence available on the effectiveness of heat stress interventions in different types of urban space.

Enabling a Thermal Comfort Assessment

The Cool Towns Heat Stress Measurement Protocol provides basic guidance to enable a full Thermal Comfort Assessment (TCA) to be conducted at street-level. Those involved in implementing climate adaptation strategies in urban areas, such as in redevelopments will find practical support to identify places where heat stress may be an issue and suggestions for effective mitigation measures.

For others, such as project developers, and spatial designers such as landscape architects and urban planners it provides practical instructions on how to evaluate and provide evidence-based justification for the selection of different cooling interventions for example trees, water features, and shade sails, for climate proofing urban areas.

Authors

• Gideon Spanjar
• Luc van Zandbrink
• Debbie Bartlett
• Jeroen Kluck
• Vera Wetzels
• Kylian Postema
• Erica Caverzam Barbosa