More than 90% of the cases of patients treated for heat stroke recorded over 15 years at the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona (from 2003 to 2017) corresponded to people with some chronic disease, whether cardiovascular, psychiatric or neurological, according to the compilation made by Antonia Vázquez, specialist in intensive medicine. Experts have been warning about the risks associated with heat in people with fragile health who die in summer.
The number of deaths from heat stroke is statistically insignificant in terms of mortality or morbidity. But the number of deaths attributable to excess heat in Spain in the summer of 2022 (from June 1 to September 30) was estimated at 4,744 (calculation made according to thresholds based on epidemiological risks), according to the Health Surveillance system. Daily Mortality, managed by the National Center for Epidemiology (MoMo report).
However, these data have been questioned because the risk assignment algorithm used to obtain these figures “is outdated,” according to Cristina Linares, co-director of the reference unit on climate change, health and urban environment of the Institute, explains to La Vanguardia. of Health Carlos III. For this reason, this expert proposes that the number of admissions be also quantified, which would give a true dimension to the problem, since the cases are moving towards age groups that were not traditionally affected. Bicycle delivery people, temporary installation assemblers, sweepers, storage personnel and breakdown repairers are part of the most exposed groups.
The perception that we are in an increasingly warm urban environment is confirmed by meteorological data. The year 2022 was the warmest year recorded in Spain since records began (with series dating back to 1961), and 2023 was the second warmest. Likewise, the summer of 2022 was also the warmest, while the summer of 2023 was in third place in this ranking. If warming projections come true, summers like those of 2022 and 2023 will be the norm on the future horizon, not an extraordinary event.
And in this context, the reflection is obvious. How should cities adapt to climate change? The question is pertinent because warming is aggravated by heat island conditions imposed by asphalt, engine combustion, and other heat sources emanating from machines or buildings. City streets systematically use black asphalt, which causes heat absorption to be released into the atmosphere at night.
To alleviate climate change, cities must be renaturalized, but not only with green spaces and gardens, but with wooded areas. Salvador Rueda, director of the Urban and Territorial Ecology Foundation, maintains that the priority must be to mitigate the high temperatures caused by the urban heat island effect. For this reason, he advocates creating green carpets both on the urban surface, with trees that provide shade, and in height, that is, on built roofs. In this scheme of solutions, trees are a fundamental instrument. The transpiration of water through the leaves has a cooling effect and, combined with shade, can lower the temperature by 2, 3 or even 4ºC.
“The renaturalization of cities must focus on trees, and not so much on green areas, because it is the trees that protect these pavements in cities and defend us from the heat island effect,” corroborates Manuel Herrero, president of the Union. of Groups of Urban Planning Architects of Spain.
The ideal of “proximity urbanism” is also defended by Carlos Moreno, creator of the concept of the 15-minute city. Moreno proposes organizing the functioning of the city, so that citizens can cover, within short distances, the fundamental needs when going to work, school, and places of leisure. In this way, not only is the need to take the car avoided, but it would also ensure that the citizen, by mitigating pollution, becomes an active agent in favor of healthy practices: an ally of an urban configuration that also allows of quality time and spaces that invite you to walk, walk and exercise.
Along these lines are the solutions proposed by Salvador Rueda, promoter of superblocks in Spain, through which, by freeing 70% of the surface destined for urban traffic, a 15% reduction in circulation is achieved. In this way, road space is simultaneously gained for urban greenery and adaptation to climate change while, in parallel, the dysfunctions of our cities are corrected, as space is given to pedestrians.
