A place to escape the heat less than 10 minutes away: how Barcelona's network of “climate shelters” was built

September has come, and while the thermometers in Barcelona no longer hit the 34ºC of the summer months, at Parc de l’Espanya Industrial, just a few steps from Sants train station, locals of all ages can still be found seeking the cold. Some lie on the grass by the lake, while others enjoy the basketball and volleyball courts or the ping-pong tables. At the entrance, a banner featuring a thermometer within a red and blue circle marks the park as one of the 360 climate shelters scattered throughout the city.

Barcelona's climate shelter network, which started with 70 locations in 2020, originated from the Cool Cities working group meetings, a project where cities share ideas for dealing with urban heat. Although the ultimate goal is to reduce the city's temperature by increasing trees or reducing asphalt, there are emergency measures such as climate shelters.

The concept came up on several occasions during those meetings, and Barcelona explored how it could be implemented locally. Today, the city is seen as a pioneer—not for being the first, as cooling centers already existed in the UK and Australia, but for its innovative methodology in adapting the concept to its local context. What exactly has Barcelona done right and how?

“What makes Barcelona a great example is the clear criteria for its shelters,” says Ana Terra, a researcher specializing in urban climate adaptation at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3). In simple terms, a climate shelter is a space where people can find refuge from extreme temperatures—whether hot or cold—while meeting certain conditions. For example, they must maintain a temperature of around 26 or 27 ºC, provide access to water, places to sit, and public restrooms. If they are outdoor spaces, such as parks, they must have a minimum of green area and shaded areas.

Shelters must also be accessible and close to those who need them, “hence the importance to create networks like those in Barcelona or Bilbao [which launched 131 locations this summer], so that one does not have to travel long distances to find a shelter,” says Elvira Jiménez, Greenpeace’s climate adaptation coordinator. This is where Barcelona followed a strategy both experts recommend for cities looking to establish their own networks. “Start with existing public spaces that can be easily transformed, like libraries, civic centers, and cultural centers. Then start opening the opportunity to other community or private spaces,” advises Ana Terra.

The Greenpeace biologist also praises Barcelona’s initiative to use schools as shelters. “They’re killing two birds with one stone. On the one hand, it has adapted the schools, where they have children, and on the other, it’s a location present in every neighborhood. A meeting point for communities that is easy to replicate”, says Jiménez. In addition to schools, the network includes daycare centers, libraries, parks, universities, museums, and markets.

The city’s goal is for all residents to have a shelter within a five-minute walk from home by 2030. This year, according to the city council, 68% of residents have access to a shelter within five minutes and 98% within ten minutes. And, despite the change in the city’s municipal government in 2023, the project has remained.

“The implementation of a climate shelters network requires a holistic and collaborative approach from the different areas of the municipality. Good governance, the search for strategic spaces with adequate infrastructure, continuous evaluation and effective communication are essential elements for the project to work”. This is how the Barcelona City Council describes the learning process that resulted in the creation of the network. The outcome is an official map where citizens can search for the nearest shelters and access them. We reproduce it here.

The limitations: they remain unknown to many, and a third of them close in August

“Oh, the other day I went to a park that had a little sign, is that it?” inquires Alberto Revilla, a Barcelona resident, when asked if he has visited a climate shelter. A 2022 survey answered by 380 Barcelona residents revealed that, just like Alberto, 85% were unaware of the climate shelter network. A trend that, according to City Hall surveys, is increasing: “In the fall of 2021 the degree of awareness was 17.8%, in 2022 it was 20.5% and in 2023 it was 32.3%”.

Although many people use them without realizing it, experts agree that communication remains a pending task. Besides being identified at the entrance, they recommend municipalities to use every available tool, from posters to websites, so that during the hot season people know where to look for them. “Whatever they can do, but spreading the word out is important so that they can be used. There has been more talk about this concept in the last two years, but it’s not something publica bears in mind”, Jiménez notes.

Those who are familiar with the shelters appreciate the initiative but see room for improvement. “It’s important to remind people that there are free spaces that ensure thermal comfort and it is good to point out where they are, but it’s hard to see the value when they close at night or during August,” says Andrea Arnal, a climate journalist and Barcelona resident.

Pedro, a 91-year-old local who uses a center for the elderly in the Poblenou neighborhood, shares similar complaints: “It’s a great center, but they do one thing very wrong: they close for vacation. So, there’s a sign saying the elderly can seek shelter here from the heat, and then it’s closed in August?”

Not only in August, but on holidays, many markets, libraries, and civic centers also display “closed” signs, making it hard to find open shelters. While parks and museums remain open, the options are limited. One-third of shelters were closed last August, this means 116 out of the 360 available spaces, according to an analysis made by Maldita.es using data from the Barcelona City Council. A ratio that had already been pointed out by El Periódico and the municipal group Junts.

With these closures, the number of Barcelona inhabitants who have a weather shelter less than a 10-minute walk from home is reduced to 88% and those who have a shelter under a 5-minute walk from home drop to 44%. When asked about this limitation, the consistory indicated that “precisely the program has looked for different spaces to cover the different time slots” and that “year after year the network has been expanded to have better time and territorial coverage”.

Jiménez emphasizes that another key requirement is that shelters must be free of charge to ensure access for vulnerable population, such as those who cannot afford air conditioning. In Barcelona, most shelters meet this criteria, but municipal swimming pools are part of the network and, despite offering discounts, they are not free.

Making them more appealing

A final challenge is making the shelters more appealing to the public. For Andrea Arnal, one key would be to promote lesser-known spaces, such as schools or universities: “As a user, no matter how much I am told that I can go into a school to cool off, it makes me feel strange. I feel like I would do more in a clothing store, a café, or a park.”

For example, museums can also serve as climate shelters. “But they can’t force you to participate in an activity in order to take refuge from the heat. You can set up a space inside the museum to act as a climate shelter, but they can't make you see art just to escape the heat because then it's not a refuge”, Jiménez clarifies.

This would be the case of the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB). A climate shelter symbol is visible at the entrance, and before reaching the exhibition hall, a space with chairs, tables, and plugs is being used by a visitor to take a nap. It’s empty now, but “in July and August, many people come here,” says María, a receptionist at the museum. “It may not seem like it, but they do now about the climate shelter and come asking about it”.

While users like Sara appreciate the initiative, they miss “an offer besides an indoor space. Otherwise, it might be better to plant trees in public squares so people can stay outside precisely in summer, that is when you want to be outdoors and not replace your living room with the one at the CCCB.”

Climate shelters are just one piece of the puzzle in adapting cities to the changing climate.

Climate shelters are becoming more common worldwide. Cities such as Bilbao, Zaragoza, and Murcia in Spain, Buenos Aires in Argentina, New York City in the United States, and Santiago de Chile are following Barcelona’s example and building their own shelter networks. In other cities, such as Lisbon, the city council has not promoted a network but a citizen has created an interactive map where you can consult the spaces to escape the heat. A civic initiative similar to the ones in Madrid, that have emerged in response to institutional inaction.

“These actions are essential and I think they can change lives, but, of course they’re not enough. Shelters should be one part of the larger puzzle of urban climate adaptation. They are an emergency measure,” explains Ana Terra. In fact, they are part of the "Barcelona for the Climate" plan, which also includes initiatives such as the “superblocks” program, aimed at increasing green spaces and reducing car use.

The advantage of climate shelters is that they are relatively easy for public institutions to implement and replicate, as they often reuse existing buildings and spaces. Moreover, they particularly benefit the most vulnerable populations, such as those without air conditioning, the elderly, or the homeless. However, the ultimate goal should be to reduce overall urban temperatures and mitigate the urban heat island effect, a point on which both experts and citizens consulted agree.

To achieve this, it’s necessary to reduce asphalt, increase green areas, and plant more trees. Initiatives like the one started by the Polytechnic University of Milan in 2018, which aims to plant 3 million trees by 2030, that in the long term could reduce temperatures by up to 10ºC while mitigating air pollution..

While ambitious, these strategies can not only reduce temperatures in Southern European cities but are also considered essential by the United Nations for improving public health in urban areas. “We must end up really transforming the municipalities and, above all, breaking down the barriers of inequality that exist in terms of the adaptation possibilities,” concludes Jiménez. Climate shelters are just the first step in that direction.

Heat-resilient Cities

This report is part of a cross-border investigation carried out by Maldita.es (Spain), Mensagem de Lisboa (Portugal) and Slow News (Italy). The project focuses on analyzing the solutions that three European cities are carrying out to address the effects of increasing temperatures in population health.

In three reports we take an in-depth approach at the shared problem of high temperatures in Madrid, Lisbon and Milan and in three other articles we explore the Barcelona climate shelter network, the mapping of shelters in Lisbon and urban reforestation in Milan. In each article we look into the effectiveness of the solution, its limitations and its replicability in other cities.

This investigation has been developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.

You can read the rest of articles from this investigation here

Heat is killing thousands in Southern European cities: what Barcelona, Milan and Lisbon are doing about it

Extreme heat in Madrid: citizens create their own climate shelters in response to limited institutional action

A place to escape the heat less than 10 minutes away: how Barcelona's network of "climate shelters" was built

Primera fecha de publicación de este artículo: 27/09/2024