Our thinking

Urban landscape VS extreme heat

30 May, 2025

In the UK, we tend to romanticise the sun, celebrating its appearances with open arms. Yet, as our summers intensify, this enthusiasm comes up against a stark reality: the rising threat of overheating. 

The summer of 2022 was a testament to this shift. For the first time, temperatures exceeded 40°C, prompting the Met Office to issue its first ever red warning for extreme heat. This led to significant disruptions, including school closures and around 3,000 deaths in the UK. 

Shade the UK is a community interest company on a mission to change this. Through promoting awareness and influencing change, it aims to adapt our built environment and public spaces to protect against a changing climate and its unequal impacts. Some of the measures are straightforward – simply planting trees is an impactful way to cool streets and buildings – and the organisation has a comprehensive set of hot tips for adapting buildings. London’s Cool Spaces tool or Tree Canopy Map are useful resources while there are many measures we can take indoors to protect ourselves and others. We have plenty to learn from countries already dealing with significant extreme heat, and the C40 Cities programme’s Cool Cities Network aims to facilitate knowledge sharing – some of the best of the bunch are highlighted in the Aviva Climate Ready report we helped develop last year.  

Heatwaves are the deadliest natural disasters, causing three times more deaths than all other forms combined in Europe. As we continue to cherish our hot and sunny days, it’s imperative to recognise and address the challenges they bring. By reimagining our urban landscapes, we can ensure that our love for the sun doesn’t come at the cost of our well-being. 

By Patrick Bapty