Heat stress in the context of environmental justice

Background and relevance

The climate crisis brings about various public health and environmental challenges, with heat being a significant concern due to rising temperatures and prolonged heat waves. Adaptions to heat stress focus on prevention (e.g., shading) and alleviation (e.g., air conditioning), but the effectiveness is influenced by personal, urban and societal factors. Urban layouts (such as the usage of green and water), individual characteristics (such as deprivation and vulnerability), and immigrant populations (potentially limited understanding, and limited knowledge of the available resources) create disparities in adapting to heat stress, leading to climate and environmental inequity.

This project aims to explore these inequities through a citizen-focused approach to heat stress, perceptions, strategies, tools and effects. Collectively, these vulnerable groups represent a population who are highly susceptible to climate and environmental inequity – making climate justice a key concern. In addition to the reasons already described, they also represent a population with complex relationships with policy makers and authority figures – making them especially hard to evaluate and communicate with via a traditional “top-down” approach. The current project therefore, aims to examine this inequity through a collaborative, citizen-focused exploration of heat stress, perceptions, strategies, tools, and effects

Project objective

The main goal of the current project is to contribute to environmental justice in the context of urban heat stress in vulnerable populations through a citizen science and participation-based approach, leading to the development of an evidence based and inclusive policy against the broader context of climate adaptation. This goal will be achieved through the completion of the following objectives: 

1. Examine the manner in which environmental justice is (or is not) addressed in the heat plans and climate adaptation policy of the municipalities Rotterdam and Utrecht. 
2. Evaluate the level of knowledge, need for knowledge, and need for support of residents and professionals (in both the care and social domains) in vulnerable neighborhoods concerning heat and climate adaptation. 
3. Develop advice for assisting residents and professionals (care and social domain) in the collaborative evaluation of the effectiveness of measures against overheating of apartments and homes.
4. Explore how the newly gained knowledge from objectives 1-3 can be applied in local heat policy.
5. Describe how knowledge about perspectives on heat stress among vulnerable residents can be applied in the broader context of climate adaptation and environmental justice.

Plan of approach

The project will employ a transdisciplinary and citizen science-based approach, involving policymakers, professionals and citizens in data collection and dissemination. Qualitative methods such as surveys and discussions will gather information on heat, heat stress and mitigation, while quantitative measures will evaluate geospatial factors and involve citizen collaboration for residential and community-level data collection.

Impact

This project will enhance understanding of heat exposures, perceptions and mitigation strategies among vulnerable populations in the Netherlands. The findings will inform policymakers and citizens in addressing the ongoing climate emergency.