A socio-spatially differentiated analysis to assess citizen’s thermal exposure in Berlin

Extreme heat events are increasingly occurring in German cities. In dense urban areas in particular, we expect even more intense and frequent heatwaves in the future posing significant threads to people’s health. To gain an understanding of the effects of heat stress and to develop sustainable cooling measures, research has been carried out at a technical, planning and spatial level. However, the topic needs additional attention from a social science perspective. Our experiment explores the fundamental question of which city users experience heat in urban outdoor spaces, in terms of intensity and location. The study was conducted in Berlin in the summer of 2024 with over 30 participants, performed as Climatewalks, microclimatic city walks, in which selected test subjects walk through the city center during a hot day and document their own thermal perception. While environmental factors were measured with a mobile weather station and geolocated, we investigated and mapped both qualitatively and quantitatively the relationship between the built urban environment, microclimate and  people’s thermal perception. This was followed by focus groups to discuss the experience gained from the Climatewalks and to identify new urban requirements from a city users’ perspective. On this basis, we formulated recommendations to act for urban climate adaptation measures with a holistic approach integrating expertise of different domains.