Planning cooler cities for a warmer future

Published on: June 24, 2026

As heatwaves become more frequent and urban areas retain more heat, municipalities are increasingly looking for new ways to understand where risks are greatest and how to respond.

Across Europe, Sweco is supporting cities with data-driven analysis that helps identify vulnerable areas, protect residents and guide long-term planning. In Odense and Ängelholm, two projects show how heat mapping and vulnerability analysis can support more resilient and liveable urban environments.

Read more: Protecting vulnerable communities from urban heatwaves

Addressing heat challenges for residents

Urban heat map Odense Municipality has wanted to map out how the higher temperatures of the future will affect the municipality. Sweco has therefore contributed by preparing an urban heat map of the entire municipality. Heat-related challenges have been mapped, and focus areas have been identified where vulnerable groups are particularly exposed. The designated focus areas concern the areas of the city that are at particular risk of overheating and where vulnerable citizens, such as children and the elderly, reside.

Solutions to Odense’s heat-related challenges involve green optimisations such as water management and bright surfaces, and initiatives that increase biodiversity, including evaporation promoting elements such as planting on surfaces and facades as well as more trees in selected areas. These measures will all contribute to reducing the temperature in the city and provide cooling properties.

“An urban heat map will function as a resource-efficient and comprehensive mapping that forms the basis for identifying focus areas. The selection of focus areas is made on the basis of the calculated surface temperature and a demographic analysis, buildings, paving types and demographics, where one of our own tools, Spatial Suite, is used for the analysis,” says Camilla Hvid, head of sustainability at Sweco Denmark.

Heat mapping and vulnerability analysis for urban areas

Sweco, on behalf of Ängelholm Municipality, has conducted an analysis of the national heat mapping available in Sweden. The purpose of the assignment was to select the most suitable heat mapping to understand heat issues within Ängelholm municipality and then carry out a vulnerability analysis. The vulnerability analysis maps the distribution of heat within these urban areas, as well as how vulnerable facilities (preschools, assisted living facilities, care homes, LSS housing, etc.) across Ängelholm Municipality are at risk of being affected during summer heatwaves.

The analysis results in a comparison of the relative vulnerability of the activities to heat impact during the summer. Sweco evaluated the vulnerability of 150 facilities in the municipality and mapped areas sensitive to heatwaves, as well as areas that are cooler and could be used as resource areas if further design and planning are carried out.

The Public Health Agency has compiled the following factors that influence heat development:

• Paved and dark surfaces, such as black roofs and asphalt, absorb heat.
• Green areas with high vegetation have a cooling effect.
• Trees have a cooling effect, primarily through shading, but also through evapotranspiration. As long as the tree roots have access to water, they transpire moisture through their pores in their leaves, which then evaporates and lowers the surrounding air temperature. However, during longer dry and hot periods, trees close these pores to conserve water.
• Low vegetation is considered neutral.
• Proximity to water can have either a cooling or warming effect, depending on the location and season.
• Buildings provide shade, but they can also emit heat.
• Wind has a cooling effect, with direction and strength being important factors.
• Humidity affects the perceived temperature.

By addressing these factors within the municipality, conditions can be created for a healthy outdoor and indoor climate. During the planning process and in the design of public spaces, consideration of these factors can create safe areas for residents and visitors within the municipality. Note, however, that if a neighbourhood has extensive green areas, the average temperature of the neighborhood may be relatively low, despite the presence of high surface temperatures near residential and commercial areas.