Escaping the heat: urban heat resilience and public cool spaces

This research paper examines London’s ‘Cool Spaces’ scheme as an approach to urban heat resilience, particularly given the rising frequency and severity of heatwaves. The study utilised a mixed-methods, “follow-the-thing” approach, including 16 semi-structured interviews with policy officials and cool space providers across London’s 32 boroughs, as well as observations and photographs. The scheme designates free indoor public spaces—mainly existing community venues—for use as temporary refuges during hot weather. The authors aimed to understand how heat resilience is conceptualised, managed, and implemented, focusing on the interplay between policy intention and on-the-ground experiences, as well as issues around depoliticisation and structural vulnerability.

The paper finds a fundamental misalignment between the intended, short-term emergency role of cool spaces and their actual use, with three main symptoms of depoliticisation: shifting responsibility for heat resilience onto individuals and communities, overlooking infrastructural issues such as overheating homes, and placing the burden of adaptation on under-resourced community organisations. Although cool spaces improve public awareness and provide immediate relief, they risk becoming a ‘band aid’ that fails to address the systemic drivers of heat vulnerability. The authors recommend that policies must tackle the root causes of overheating—including retrofitting housing—better align the functionality of cool spaces with users’ everyday needs, and ensure sustainable financial and policy support, emphasising the need for transformative rather than reactive approaches to urban heat risks.