Monitoring pedestrian heat stress in Greater Paris

Urban heat islands, combined with extreme heat waves, can pose a public health risk. During the 2003 heat wave in Paris, strong correlations were observed between nighttime outdoor air temperatures and mortality [1]. However, previous studies only focus on outdoor nighttime air temperatures when citizens are sleeping, without linking these observations with the heat stress they may have been exposed to during the day or in their apartment. Similarly, studies [2] highlight the relationship between air temperature and mortality during heat waves at the city level. Building on this, we aim to demonstrate the viability of using heat stress as a metric to assess its impact on individual physiological responses.

This is one of the principals aims of the “Heat waves, urban Health islands, Health: a mobile sensing approach” (H3Sensing ANR research) project. Citizen science methods will be used in order to measure heat stress exposure over several days as well as individual physiological responses. Mobile measurements of microclimatic parameters [3] allow us to characterize and map heat stress exposure [4] in Greater Paris. Stationary measurements in apartments and individual surveys will complete the data set and combined with measured physiological data.

Beginning in March, 2025, the citizen science study will last for two periods of 4 days in spring and in summer with a target group of 180 Paris inhabitants. The proposed communication will present the study methodology in terms of measurement device prototyping and data processing as well as preliminary analyses from the study.