Beating the heat – how city planners can prepare for the coming summers

This summer has seen record breaking heat all over Europe, with temperatures near or above 40°C and the longest drought in Germany ever.

Meteorologist and other scientist are warning us, that repeated summers like this might be in store. So, city planners and politicians need to prepare.

We cannot turn down the temperature, even if we start reducing CO2 emissions immediately, it will take years to have an impact. This means, we have to take countermeasures.

Here, I would like to focus on city planning:

The best solution to help beating the heat is the old fashioned method of planting trees. City planners around the turn of the century l knew why they lined city streets with trees – look at the most fashionable neighbourhoods of Berlin, Zurich, New York, and you will find trees for shade and style. Neighbourhoods with trees command the highest real estate prices,

First, they provide shade and cooling. Additionally, trees also play a major part in absorbing particulate pollution. The large surface area of a tree’s foliage captures pollutants like fine particles and NOx. Trees capture CO2 and help to slow down the greenhouse effect. Furthermore, trees absorb sound and also generate their own through the movement of leaves. Along roads they provide screening and privacy as well as a physical boundary which protects pedestrians or divides lanes running in different directions. Not to be underestimated in times of increasing thunder storm risk, they play a part in stabilising rainwater runoff as trees can absorb water and breathe it out through their leaves.

When I grew up, building societies would plant trees outside our apartment complexes to proved shade and cooling, as there were no air conditioning systems. Now, these buildings are sold of to single apartment owners, and no one is responsible for planting trees that benefit more than obe single apartment owner, When these trees die, they are not replaced. Yet people rather buy Air-Conditioning units.

We need to return to the concepts of the times of 1900 when cities planted trees, And we need citizens to help watering them in scorching summer times.

It sounds like a lot of effort and money is needed – but remembers, planting trees helps to improve quality of life by reducing city temperatures’, by generating fresh ait in hit days and by raining property prices long term.