“Greening protects cities from heat waves and offers residents many health benefits”
10/05/2024
Malake Muñoz Cachón, Climate Action Project Officer at Ihobe, talked on Cadena SER’s “A vivir Euskadi” programme about the project to analyse the psychosocial benefits of naturalising urban spaces developed by Tecnalia in Urban Klima 2050.
The “A vivir Euskadi” programme on Cadena SER talked about climate refuges in the Basque Country, 245 in the three Basque capitals, which are specifically designed for vulnerable groups and people with fewer resources, to offer thermal relief during heat waves.
Malake Muñoz Cachón, Climate Action Project Officer at Ihobe, talked on the programme about the benefits of having these spaces in cities. Muñoz specifically mentioned the project developed by Tecnalia within the framework of LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050 to analyse the psychosocial benefits of naturalising urban spaces.
Muñoz stressed that climate refuges are effective in the promotion of climate change adaptation. “Temperatures are already very high, and we have to adapt our cities and towns so that people can protect themselves from these high temperatures,” she explained. She talked about how the greening of cities helps to achieve this goal by taking advantage of existing spaces and “not expanding the urban sprawl”. Parks and school playgrounds, which “are pure concrete” are “areas that can be filled with greenery, not only to reduce the temperature, but also to improve people’s physical and mental health”.
The conclusion is clear: “When we plant vegetation in cities, we reduce the temperature and it has a lot of co-benefits: it increases biodiversity, acoustic comfort, carbon sequestration, etc. In the end, there are a lot of things that will help us to improve our city and our well-being,” she concluded.
