Some of the biggest challenges that cities have when responding to heat are how to ensure the continuity of heatwave plans and how to communicate with residents. As well as how to measure the direct and indirect losses that extreme heat brings to the economy and society. Addressing the urban heat challenge requires multi-faceted solutions: urban planning, policy changes, governance changes, technological innovations, and community engagement, among others.

Over the past 10 years, cities across Europe and the world have been implementing urban heat solutions based on evidence and data. Aiming to maintain function and ensure the most vulnerable are protected, using awareness campaigns, systems thinking, stakeholder engagement and participatory planning.

Urban heat impacts are intensifying with climate change, local governments need to continuously refine their approaches to keep up. This session brings together a panel of expert urban practitioners, including Chief Heat and Resilience Officers, who will explore state-of-the-art approaches and actions that are enabling them to build urban heat resilience.

The objective of this session is to bring expert city officer working at the forefront of heat resilience to share their innovative actions and experiences. The session will go beyond the recommendation of best practices, e.g. deployment of Nature Based Solutions, by exploring specifically how such these can become mainstreamed and how cities can assess their benefits. The session will engage the audience through Q&A, and will be open to collect new ideas that have proved valuable for other cities.

This session is part of the The governance of the new crises: managing and funding resilience in Europe stream.