Viability of public spaces in cities under increasing heat: A transdisciplinary approach

Designing thermally sensitive public spaces: an analysis through urban design media

“…• Urban coolspots appear as adaptation strategies suitable for mid-latitude cities and their socioeconomic contexts (Foshag et al 2020), in which urban coolspots become tactical interventions to mitigate pedestrians' heat stress (Kluck and Boogard 2020). The design media present them as public facilities, funded by public or semi-public institutions, usually located in city centres or activity districts, to help urban attractiveness policies.…”

“…In more general terms, microclimatic plazas enhance the thermal regulation purpose of traditional plazas and pocket squares (Heschong 1979). As a complement to them, the emergence of microclimatic plazas can be explained by both environmental and socioeconomic factors, such as the climate constraints imposed by inherited urban forms originally designed for sunlight accessibility (Foshag et al 2020) Four major setups have been identified within this category:…”

The old and the climate adaptation: Climate justice, risks, and urban adaptation plan

“…Moreover, measures to increase inclusion, such as participation and co-ownership, need to be at the forefront of the discussion, as these issues are too often missing or underrepresented during the implementation (Kremer et al, 2019). There have been transdisciplinary attempts to enhance social justice by increasing relevant stakeholder participation when designing open public spaces and this participation have led to practicality and improved design solutions (Foshag et al, 2020), but the question still remains whether greater environmental justice has been achieved.…”

“…In addition to climate indicators, we control for several other variables that include land cover and exposure to hazards, as they help explain the usage of urban space. Usage of urban space including public and green space is a factor that can fundamentally change the landscape of a city, making it more or less vulnerable to climate risks and environmental damages (Foshag et al, 2020). The data consists of the rank of each city in Europe measured by the percentage of green space in the Urban Morphological Zone (UMZ), the change in percentage of sealed surface in the city, and lastly, the percentage of land used in the UMZ which was exposed to at least 1 case of river flooding in the last 100 years and is at risk of being flooded until the year 2080s when assuming the same land use trend.…”

Thermal Comfort in Urban Spaces

“…Increasing our adaptive capacity becomes relevant for all the different scales, from the individual person to the street space and public square, and to the urban scale. It then becomes possible to adopt solutions synergistically, which has been proven to improve both climatic and socio-economic conditions (Foshag et al 2020).…”