Letter: Good design can mitigate effects of city hotspots

Your article (“Heat deaths to mount as world risks warmest summer on record”, FT.com, June 26) highlighted the increasing heat deaths as the world faces its warmest summer on record. As a landscape architect, I’ve seen how the design of cities exacerbates these temperatures by pushing out nature, paving streets with asphalt and constructing tall glass and steel buildings.

Urban heat affects neighbourhoods unevenly, with vulnerable populations at a greater risk. Using AI and satellite imagery, we mapped urban hotspots across various cities. In London, for instance, some neighbourhoods experienced temperatures 8C higher than greener areas during a heatwave and almost a quarter of a million elderly people and children saw heat spikes of 4C compared with rural surroundings.

However, there is hope. We can now rapidly model how our designs influence urban hotspots. City leaders, urban designers and planners must leverage this ability to mitigate hotspots, especially in vulnerable communities. Following London Climate Action Week, it is a reminder we need to act now to build resilience. Cities like London need chief heat officers, who can galvanise action across a number of professions to focus on protecting the most at-risk populations, and continue to make our cities liveable.

Dima Zogheib
Associate Director, Cities, Planning and Design, Arup
London W1T, UK