There are many ways in which heat stress can be reduced – but which is most suitable for your situation?
Some strategies, such as reducing traffic, may be challenging, and avoiding the street canyon effect requires urban planning to take a long-term view but benefits can be realized from individual interventions.
Here is a catalogue of different types of intervention, with illustrations, to help you decide which is most appropriate for your situation.
Catalogue of interventions
To help decision makers to choose between the possible intervention that can reduce heat stress a literature review was carried out and the findings of previous research have been summarized to produce a catalogue of interventions describing the advantages and disadvantages of the different options. This was developed by the Cool Towns Project so that local authorities who want to install heat stress mitigation interventions in their city can compare and contrast these and make an informed choice about which option will be best for their situation.
Download the Catalogue of interventions
The document : “Keep your house cool”
In the past summers we regularly had to deal with heat waves. Temperatures can also rise indoors, which can cause health and well-being problems for people. Fortunately, there are a number of measures that can be applied to prepare homes for hot summers. This communication kit can serve as inspiration to help individuals on their way with concrete tips and tricks to keep their home cool. This kit contains an informative folder, sample texts for an information sheet and newsletter, examples for social media posts, banners, etc. The content and images of this kit can be used by local authorities
Information note on heat resilience of private dwellings
In the near future, the need for cooling buildings will increase substantially. In order to create a pleasant indoor climate in homes, we must therefore limit overheating as much as possible.
This information note focuses on the measures and techniques that can be used to cool the interior of houses and prevent them becoming unpleasantly hot.
This document is a guide for those who provide sustainable building advice to private homeowners. Construction professionals, contractors, architects, and private individuals who need in-depth information on this subject can also benefit from this document. Taking steps at the design/build stage to e reduce the requirement to cool homes as well as different post construction cooling techniques are described in detail. For each one the impact on internal building temperature, user behaviour and any potential misconceptions are discussed.