More than Just Heat Vulnerability: A Multidimensional Approach to Urban Climate Resilience

Urban heat is a growing concern as climate change intensifies the frequency and severity of heat waves, disproportionately impacting socially vulnerable groups and urban areas with pronounced heat island effects. The emerging literature on urban heat focuses on either the physical determinants of urban heat islands or the socio-demographic factors that contribute to a person's susceptibility to climate hazards, usually neglecting the multidimensional and multiscale nature of heat in urban areas. This separation is problematic since it hinders the development of tailored heat strategies integrating social, physical, and political dimensions. Therefore, insufficiently targeted adaptation strategies only reinforce the role of heat in amplifying climate injustice.

This paper develops a comprehensive framework to understand the various dimensions influencing vulnerability to urban heat across scales, from the individual to the city level. This study focuses on the city of The Hague, The Netherlands, due to its high levels of social inequalities and significant urban heat island impacts. Through a mixed-methods approach, this research integrates quantitative and qualitative analyses to highlight heat-vulnerable neighbourhoods and develop tailored resilience strategies. The quantitative results reveal patterns of vulnerability in terms of exposure and sensitivity. These patterns guide the identification of heat-vulnerable neighbourhoods, which are further analysed using qualitative methods such as interviews and observations. A governance analysis complements these findings, assessing existing adaptation strategies and identifying gaps.

The outcomes of this research include policy recommendations and an adaptation toolkit designed for municipalities and local organizations addressing urban heat. This toolkit emphasizes building adaptive capacity through targeted, multi-scale strategies, enabling communities to enhance their resilience to urban heat. By integrating a multidimensional framework and adopting a holistic approach, this research offers valuable insights for creating inclusive and effective heat adaptation measures.