From heat risk to heat resilience: building cities that thrive

Global temperatures are rising at unprecedented rates, driving more frequent and intense heatwaves. Today, around 55% of the world’s population lives in cities, a figure projected to reach 68% by 2050, with many urban populations facing regular exposure to extreme heat.

This raises an urgent question: What will sustainable living mean in a rapidly warming world?

The design of our cities, from buildings to public spaces, must evolve to build resilience and adaptive capacity in response to rising temperatures. Urban planning has a critical role to play in shaping environments that can withstand and mitigate future heat.

Already, cities are especially vulnerable due to the urban heat island effect, where dense concentrations of concrete, asphalt, and infrastructure trap and amplify heat, making urban areas significantly hotter than surrounding rural regions. In some cases, surface temperatures can be up to 10°C higher, compounding heat stress for communities and critical systems alike. As baseline temperatures continue to rise, the question becomes not just how cities heat up, but how people will cope within them. 

What can we do to live in rapidly heating cities?

Across the globe, cities are taking action through their own climate action planning through a variety of programs and governance structures. Heat will impact regions differently, and here’s how different regions are approaching the challenge of extreme heat.

Elisabeth Marlow, Sustainability Associate in London, commented:  

“In the UK, extreme heat is an increasing and often underestimated risk. Much of our urban fabric was designed to retain heat through colder winters, not to keep buildings cool during rising summer temperatures, which have already reached 43°C. This shift demands a fundamental rethink in how we plan, design, and operate the built environment.  

Improving resilience to heat requires a coordinated approach, combining passive design measures such as shading, natural ventilation, and high-performance building fabric with urban-scale interventions like increased tree canopy, green infrastructure, and reflective materials. Retrofitting existing buildings will be critical, particularly in dense urban areas already at risk of overheating. Reliance on air conditioning alone is not a viable solution, given energy demands, emissions, and the risk of system overload during peak use. 

This shift is reinforced by the National Engineering Policy Centre’s first five-year strategy, the UK Green Building Council's Resilience Policy and recognition in the EU Taxonomy that climate impacts need to be adapted to. Ultimately, this calls for systems-level thinking and cross-sector collaboration to address climate risks and create healthier, more resilient cities.” 

Bysshe Wallace, Principal Sustainability Consultant in Doha, commented:

“In rapidly growing cities across the MENA region, a science-led approach is becoming essential to guide urban planning and development. Climate-responsive strategies, underpinned by advanced modelling and wind analysis, are critical to shaping more resilient urban environments. Measures such as optimised building orientation and window-to-wall ratios, high-performance building envelopes, shaded pedestrian networks, and nature-based cooling solutions can significantly reduce heat build-up across urban spaces.

Combined with forward-looking planning policies and climate-resilient infrastructure, these interventions will be vital to ensuring cities remain liveable as temperatures continue to rise. Ghaf Woods in Dubai offers a compelling example, where a forest-led masterplan featuring more than 35,000 trees and shaded green corridors is expected to create a cooler microclimate, reducing temperatures by up to 5°C.” 

Jordan Kiranne, Associate Director, Sustainability in Sydney, said:

“Heat already kills more people in Australia than any other natural disaster, including floods, cyclones and bushfires. As Australia spans tropical, subtropical and temperate zones, there is no one-size-fits-all response to heat. What is consistent is the need to prioritise places where exposure and vulnerability intersect. Western Sydney, for example, regularly surpasses 40 °C in summer and is already experiencing acute heat stress, compounded by the concentration of vulnerable communities. Reducing heat at the source through greening, shade and climate informed building design is essential to ensure the benefits reach those who need them most.” 

The uneven impacts of extreme heat

At the same time as global warming increases baseline temperatures, cities continue to grow, bringing greater density, more impervious surfaces, and uneven access to cooling resources. Heat vulnerability in urban contexts isn’t just about high temperatures, it’s about who and what is most at risk. Heat vulnerability encompasses the exposure of people (especially the elderly, outdoor workers, and low‑income communities), the susceptibility of infrastructure, and the limited capacity of water and health systems to cope with prolonged heat stress. Factors such as high building density, limited green space, and socioeconomic disparities all exacerbate heat exposure and reduce resilience.  

Recognising the multifaceted nature of heat vulnerability allows engineers, planners, and communities to implement targeted interventions that make cities safer, cooler, and more resilient for all residents. But the window for incremental change is closing. The industry must now move beyond ambition to implementation, embedding heat resilience into every stage of design and delivery, accelerating retrofit, and ensuring solutions reach the most vulnerable communities. Creating cities that can truly thrive in a warming world will depend not on isolated action, but on how quickly and collaboratively we respond.