When it is hot, the quality of life in the city decreases

Municipality is heatproof if

• Sufficient shaded and residentialfriendly locations are created with every new area development, but also with projects in existing areas.
• All major walking and cycling routes are shaded and accessible to everyone.
• Each district has sufficient greenery and agreed percentages for heatresistant and/or cooling surfaces have been achieved.
• There is sufficient shade at public transport stops.
• Water systems have been installed in public places and squares for cooling.
• There are no more Urban Heat Islands (UHI).

Measures

• Retain existing greenery as much as possible or (temporarily) relocate it. This can be done by limiting felling permits for existing construction, and agreements with project developers for new construction according to the Indicator Climate Adaptive Construction (Maatlat Klimaatadaptief Bouwen).
• Creating shady locations and routes can be done by:
  • Trees with a mature crown.
  • Shade cloth for very hot periods.
  • Pergolas.
  • Removal of asphalt and paving.
• Other cooling measures are:
  • When designing and situating buildings, greenery and surface water, take cooling wind flows and green lobes into the city into account.
  • Green facades and roofs to combat Urban Heat Islands.
  • Misting stations, fountains and tricks.
  • Drinking water taps.
  • Light roofs (low albedo value); preferably on flat roofs. Walls and sloping roofs also reflect heat to the street.

Tips

1. Define clear targets for heat in both existing areas and new area developments and use the information from stress test maps, the Distance to Coolness map (in Dutch) from the Climate Effect Atlas , the 3-30-300 rule or the three heat guidelines (in Dutch), and ambitions from your adaptation strategy.
2. Coordinate these goals with your colleagues in the design and management of public space and, in particular, colleagues in green management, because the collaboration between greenery and heat in the city can be achieved very well.
3. Ensure that climate adaptation is a permanent part of the requirements package in the area development process and thus anchor it within your organization.
4. Enter into dialogue with residents, municipal council and council about the desired percentage of greenery in each neighborhood and record this as a goal in the environmental vision.
5. Determine where the cool places (in Dutch) should be located in your municipality.
6. Determine which cycling and walking routes are so 'important' that they also need to be shaded. Choose matching city trees (in Dutch) or more technical measures.
7. Create green networks throughout the city that are connected to the cooler outdoor areas. This allows an air exchange with cooling winds (also called green lobes (in Dutch)).
8. Look at specific subsidies for measures: e.g. the Mia/Vamil subsidy for green roofs. There is also a blue-green roof guide (in Dutch) available for green roofs.
9. Ensure good cooperation with the Green Management department (for example, visit the Green Village of TU Delft).
10. Provide involved employees with knowledge about operationalizing these measures.

Extra information

The layout of an area or district is accompanied by many design and layout issues. Many municipal tasks come together in the public space: climate adaptation, energy transition, mobility and parking, utilities, sewerage, etc. To ensure that the task of climate adaptation (including heat) is properly implemented, a number of tools have already been developed for new construction and existing construction projects:

• Guidelines for climate-proof new construction (in Dutch)
• Roadmap Climate-proof existing buildings (in Dutch)
• Roadmap Climate-robust area development (in Dutch)
• HvA - A cool look at the design of the outdoor space (in Dutch)
• Agreement on climate-adaptive construction for the Province of South Holland (in Dutch)
• Climate-adaptive construction agreement with the Province of Utrecht (in Dutch)
• Climate-adaptive construction (in Dutch)
• Climate-adaptive construction benchmark (in Dutch)
• (Cost) effectiveness of measures (in Dutch)
• Most commonly applied measures are climate-adaptive and nature-inclusive construction and renovation (in Dutch)
• Green-blue networks (in Dutch)

The above tools discuss phasing in the development and construction process, the introduction of climate adaptive tasks in the various phases, management of climate-proof measures and cooperation with various area partners.