Summer has not yet begun in the southern hemisphere, and countries such as Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina are already suffering the effects of unusual ‘heat bubbles’. Extreme temperatures that the cities of southern Europe were well aware of in July, with peaks which rose above 40 °C. And we already know that, in summer issues, just as happens with viral epidemics during the winter, paying attention to these phenomena in the northern hemisphere is like opening a kind of “window to the future” that allows us to anticipate what could happen in this time. region. In other words, and as has been happening for some time, the approaching summer is already forecast to be worryingly hot.
The heat waves and water scarcity generated by climate change are having an intense impact on cities, forced to become more resilient in the face of these new – or not so new – scenarios. Taking care of water and protecting people from heat are unavoidable tasks in urban planning, especially in cities that were conceived when these challenges did not have the level of urgency they have today. We must, therefore, adapt.
Is the commitment of States and international organizations sufficient for this? Should this issue be addressed only from the macro level, or do we also have to add the small contributions that arise from the communities themselves? Do we rest exclusively on the responsibility of large companies or productive sectors that generate more CO2, or do we promote the incorporation of new ideas no matter how limited their impact may be?
The answer probably has two central components: everything adds up, but atomized efforts contribute more when there is coordination between the different actors who today are trying to “do something.”
“Neighborhoods for Climate” is part of that “something.” This is the name of a project promoted by Corporación Ciudades, with the support of the Ibáñez Atkinson Foundation, which seeks to promote very specific actions, such as intervening in public transport stops, children’s play infrastructure, taking advantage of schools and colleges or installing certain types of vegetal cover, to reduce the ambient temperature. In the first phase, what was done was to review satellite images to analyze the evolution of temperature in the last 10 years at a neighborhood unit scale in Greater Santiago, which generated a map of areas most affected by heat waves. They all coincided with the most vulnerable sectors of the capital.
Up to this point, the task was going a little ‘easier’.
Then came the detailed review of each red zone until the establishment of 10 neighborhoods considered priority for monitoring, while in parallel low-complexity urban interventions that have worked in other places in the world were studied, and that allow a reduction in up to three or four degrees the temperature of the nearby environment. What fit best for each specific point was another step, reviewing even the central curbs of some avenues to analyze whether they warranted intervention. Up to this point, the work was still of medium complexity.
But the most difficult thing was missing, which is to add actors persuaded of an idea so that it is implemented and replicated. Reaching agreement between the multiple stakeholders that affect a territory, whether from the public or private world, decision-makers, financiers or executors, is probably one of the greatest challenges when giving governance and projection to urban initiatives, whose timing They are usually decoupled from political cycles.
Companies, NGOs, the State, local governments and academia, we are all necessary to adapt our cities to the unstoppable effects of climate change. In the case of Barrios por el Clima, organizations such as Mi Parque, Bosko, Patio Vivo and the Master in Sustainable Architecture and Energy from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile have already joined. The mayors of the most affected communes, these days concerned about being re-elected in the October elections, must also be a fundamental part of this equation.
The neighborhoods that will be hit by the inclement heat of future summers demand that we do more. And more can be done. The diagnoses are there, as are the solutions based on experiences. We must take action and take this challenge rather as an opportunity, which only through a virtuous public-private alliance will allow us to create cities and citizens that are more resilient in the face of the new climate scenario.
Martin Andrade He is Executive Director of Corporación Ciudades
