Transcript Zero Episode 38: Redesign Cities to Cope With Heat

Heat waves are becoming longer and more intense, with effects that are particularly pronounced in cities. Lack of vegetation, high levels of traffic and the concrete, glass and steel used in buildings combine to bring urban temperatures above those in nearby rural regions — sometimes as much as 15C higher. That discrepancy is being compounded by trends in migration: As a greater percentage of the global population moves to cities, the impact of extreme heat events will be felt by a growing number of people.

There are solutions, though. This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi talks with global chief heat officer for UN Habitat, Eleni Myrivili, about how cities can be made more resilient to heat, why air conditioning is not the best fix and how neighbors can help each other in a heat wave.