Making cities cooler is a no brainer – so why are we doing so little about it?

You walk through a park in a city on a warm day, then cross out to a narrow street lined with tall buildings. Suddenly, it feels much hotter. Many people will have experienced this, and climate scientists have a name for it: the urban heat island effect.

Heavily urbanised areas within cities are between 1℃ and 3℃ hotter than other areas. They are contributing to global warming and damaging people’s health, and it’s set to get worse as urbanisation intensifies.