Imagine for a moment a heat wave in your city, in your neighborhood. Imagine hot day after hot day, wave after wave… By now you’ve probably experienced heat waves in your city. The summer of 2022 had three heat waves in Barcelona. From June 13th to 20th, from July 10th to 20th and from August 10th to 15th. 22 days and 22 nights in three different waves that made life very difficult for its inhabitants.
According to the Spanish Meteorological Agency, July was the hottest month in all of Spain since 1961. The average temperature in July was 2.7°C above the historical average for that month, and August was also 2°C above the historical average . Analysis of mortality from extreme heat, carried out in Spain for the summer of 2022, estimated that between 5,300 and 6,600 people died from this cause.
A global analysis of data from 732 sites in 43 countries over the period 1991-2018 showed that in all study countries, 37% of summer heat-related deaths were due to the climate crisis, with increases in mortality seen on all continents.
And heat waves, defined as abnormally high temperatures that last for days in the same place, don’t have the same impact on our cities, on our people. Analyzing different neighborhoods of Madrid, we saw how income levels, availability of air conditioning, and percentage of population over 65 modulated the impact of the 2010-2013 heat waves on daily mortality in Madrid. And also in Madrid, data not yet published, we analyzed how extreme heat also unequally affected the incidence of a first cardiovascular event, with men, the immigrant population and the most economically disadvantaged being disproportionately affected.
Therefore, further research needs to be done on how heatwaves are affecting populations in our cities, particularly people who are not on vacation, who do not have or cannot afford the air conditioning they would need in their homes to be able to carry on for one Day, a “normal” day to be able to sleep, to rest.
For this we worked in El Raval on a participatory photo project that is part of the Science and City Biennial that is taking place this year in Madrid and Barcelona.
El Raval is a central neighborhood in Barcelona with a population of 47,000 very young people, an average age of 33, with 50% of immigrants coming from 128 different nationalities.
And we had the opportunity to work, to listen and to learn from ten residents of the neighborhood, seven women and three men from six different nationalities. And we asked them a series of questions: How did the immigrant residents of El Raval experience the heat waves? What factors and locations determined your worst moments during heat waves? What places and situations offered some relief during heat waves?
These ten participants discussed these questions as part of a citizen science process called Photovoice. For two months and in various sessions, the participants took and collected photos and discussed these questions intensively. And they did it from their experiences and those of their friends, neighbors and relatives.
Several participants of the citizen science project Fotovoz met at one of the sessionsEdgar Melo
During the different sessions and steps of this methodology, they identified differences and issues related to the heatwaves of the exceptional summer of 2022 in relation to their daily life, well-being and health.
The topics were unanimous and stood out: housing and warmth, lack of green spaces, different types and sources of heat stress, adaptation to heat and the effects of tourism.
A recurring discussion has been how the home is unprepared for the heat, how air conditioning is a luxury it is unaffordable, how it is impossible to sleep and how one’s home becomes an unbearable place. “I cook everything in my house. My kitchen has no windows to the outside, it becomes hell in the summer,” Souad El Kaissi, a resident of the neighborhood for 20 years.
Another prominent discussion concerned green spaces, sidewalks, benches, shaded areas. And how can you survive in a city like Barcelona on the beach with no shade and beach bars for tourists? Or the fact that you can’t visit a public swimming pool because it’s expensive and/or too far away.” In the Agora we got a green and shady place for us. In the summer I organized a pool and the children were very happy,” says Ana María da Silva, who has lived in El Raval for 18 years.
“You end up meeting at night, late at night. I barbecued with my friends on the beach, I even slept there to beat the heat,” complains Alexandra Vargas, who has been in the area for 22 years.
Using their own photos and experiences, these citizen scientists were able to describe and suggest a number of improvements to reduce the negative impact of heat waves in cities;
- market control and DIY
- Control of energy/electricity costs
- Enhancing public spaces with trees, with free shade, which are places of respect and coexistence.
- Access to affordable public pools
Together with the participants of the Fotovoz El Raval project, we presented the results in the same neighborhood, at the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB). The CCCB is a well-known cultural center of international standing and impact where, in the words of Judit Carrera, its director, “science must interact with other fields of knowledge”.
Scientific evidence underscores the urgent need to develop ambitious mitigation and adaptation strategies that can minimize the impact of heatwaves on the health of our populations. In this case, the residents of El Raval have used their in-depth knowledge of city life to develop strategies that have the greatest possible impact on our health.
On many occasions it is essential to listen to the public and to discuss in depth the reality, the everyday life in which we live and suffer, in order to unite it with scientific knowledge and political decisions. It seems simple, it seems silly, but listening to people is important to take and develop effective and appropriate actions, and often we forget to listen. And we always forget to listen to the people who have fewer opportunities to speak up, to take a picture.
Health goes through neighborhoods is a section that explains, in a simple and friendly tone, the concepts and advances in research in urban health, an area of public health that is necessarily interdisciplinary. Urban health research aims to improve our cities to improve the health of the millions of people who live in the complex and uneven cities that shape life on our planet today.
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