Germany to protect cities against rising temperatures with urban heat strategy

Urban greening and parasols in hotspots should help protect people in Germany's cities during periods of high heat. With a new urban heat protection strategy, the buildings ministry (BMWSB) aims to better protect the country's cities against a warming climate, Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung (NOZ) reported. "Climate change and its consequences are particularly noticeable in our cities in the summer months," buildings minister Klara Geywitz told the paper.

The ministry's heat protection strategy proposes changes to the building code and water management. The strategy's six fields of action include the creation of more green spaces, from parks to green roofs and façades; shading places prone to heat-stress such as playgrounds and town squares; identifying cool places in cities; protecting buildings from heat with blinds and greenery; the unsealing of asphalted surfaces; and the installation of more drinking water fountains and showers, which should especially help protect homeless people without access to private cooler places.

Cities suffer particularly from high temperatures because of the so-called urban heat island effect. Temperatures feel hotter in cities compared to their surroundings largely because of sealed surfaces and limited greenery. The so-called “sponge city” urban construction model used for flood management and to strengthen ecological infrastructure and drainage systems could provide cities with relief during heatwaves and buffer heavy rain events.

In 2023, over 3,000 people in Germany died of heat-related causes, according to the country's disease control authority, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). It was the country's hottest year since records began. Germany introduced a heat action plan aimed at preventing excess mortality linked to high temperatures the same year. The number of hot days exceeding 30 degrees is increasing in Germany, and there are longer periods of heat, as a result of climate change.