Initiating a multi-party collaboration for adaption and resilience to urban heatwaves: A report prepared for the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research

This project concerns a consortium for knowledge sharing/research between TU Delft (IDE Faculty) and the Netherlands Red Cross for the purpose of developing a co-creation approach to resolving complex humanitarian problems. We focus on design for adaption and community resilience to the phenomena of urban heatwaves—prolonged periods of excessive heat in city environments. A heatwave can be defined as a three-day mean temperature that is significantly above average temperatures of a region for the time of year1 . There is a clear correlation between urban heatwaves, periods of excessive heat and high humidity, and national mortality rates (See Figure 2). Yet because urban heatwaves do not leave a trail of visible destruction like earthquakes, tsunamis and pandemics, these crises are often termed ‘silent-killers’.