Climate Oasis: Working with Citizens to Build Resilience to Climate Change

The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts that we will experience hotter and hotter summers. Cities and citizens will have to prepare to avoid suffering the consequences of these rising temperatures. Can we find solutions to adapt to climate change?

The Oasi Climàtic project (Climate Oasis project), coordinated by ISGlobal, LEMUR and Tarpuna and supported by grants from the Barcelona City Council's Climate Plan, aims to involve a pioneering community of young and old people in the Nou Barris district to identify cool places in the neighbourhood and imagine solutions for dealing with the heat in urban spaces. The aim is to raise their awareness of the climate emergency by working together, creating a link with the neighbourhood and at the same time offering collective and innovative solutions in the same environment. Therefore, the project aims to involve and empower the local population, especially young and elderly people, in the identification and design of climate shelters in urban spaces.

To achieve this objective, a series of actions have been designed with the public that can be replicated later, such as the creation of innovative training capsules on climate issues for young people and the elderly, the development of linking and cohesion dynamics based on strategic challenges such as climate and health in different areas of Nou Barris, and the identification of driving groups and the creation of a network and community that promotes the exchange of knowledge between participants in the neighbourhood through existing entities. Sessions of co-design of urban climate shelters will be developed in the neighbourhood, in terms of global health and climate protection, and the experiences will be collected in post and digital format. LEMUR's own methodology, Body-driven-design, will be used to connect the needs of the body with wellbeing in urban space.

Portlligat and Aiguablava streets (Nou Barris). Photo: Sebastià Rambla / Barcelona City Council.

The project is helping to raise public awareness of the need for and involvement in the creation of green spaces, as well as improving urban planning in the city to avoid the heat island effect in neighbourhoods and improve the health of the neighbourhoods themselves. It also responds to the needs of Nou Barris to face the possible consequences of climate change, such as rising temperatures, and empowers the local community through knowledge and networking to contribute to the implementation of solutions that promote climate resilience.

Aqueduct park (Ciutat Meridiana, Nou Barris). Photo: Mariona Gil / Barcelona City Council.

The first session of the project, entitled "Oasis en el Barrio, Oasis in the neighbourhood - finding cool places to take shelter and learn how to cope with the heat and enjoy better health", will take place on 9 June from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. at the Can Verdaguer Civic Centre and will consist of a short presentation on the objectives of the project and on climate. Afterwards, there will be a dynamic to discover among the participants the climatic refuges of Nou Barris and possible spaces for urban and climatic improvement. During the month of July, three more workshops will be held at Can Verdaguer CC, from 10 to 11:30 on the 3rd, 10th and 17th.