Abc – Augsburg bleibt cool
As a result of climate change, heat waves in Germany are expected to become more frequent and intense. While life-threatening situations caused by heat primarily affect older adults, extreme heat generally leads to a decline in well-being and performance. During the 2003 heat wave in Europe, fatalities occurred mainly due to the lack of nighttime cooling and the resulting inability to recover.
Against this backdrop, the Abc project identifies heat hotspots in public spaces and residential buildings—both in specific locations and across broader areas—classifies them into categories for generalizability, and projects their future development in the context of climate change. To this end, a 3D urban climate model is being developed that captures the statistical relationships between influencing factors regarding indoor and outdoor temperatures using the city of Augsburg as an example, in order to subsequently identify heat hotspots in relation to specific building types as well as across the entire urban area. Various heat-related parameters from individual buildings, their immediate surroundings, and the entire urban area are recorded as input parameters for the 3D urban climate model. For this purpose, freely available remote sensing data and other geodata are primarily used.
In addition to the substantive work, the public should be made aware of the issue and the importance of self-protection. Other key aspects include sharing the findings with relevant stakeholders, fostering collaboration among them, and initiating discussions on adaptation measures (e.g., in urban planning, urban green spaces, and summer heat protection for buildings).