Expert article
Edit 24 July 2021
by Constantinos Cartalis

The Climate Shelters project - Climate innovation to beat the heat

The Climate Shelters project
In his 2nd Zoom-in, Constantinos Cartalis, UIA Expert for the Climate Shelters (Adapting Schools to Climate Change through green, blue and grey Solutions) project of the City of Barcelona,  explores a climate innovation project “to beat the heat”.

The video refers to the challenge to be met, namely the adaptation of Barcelona to the impacts of climate change especially with respect to heat waves, presents the project’s innovative idea to convert schoolyards to “cool islands” through green, blue and grey interventions, and digs deep into the elements of the methodology which are critical for the successful "design to implementation" transition. To this end, it presents  steps and results from the scientific assessment of the state of environment at  the school scale, notes the engagement of schools in the design phase, showcases in particular interventions and results for two of the selected schools, speaks about the benefits of the project for the city and refers to the role of schools as agents of community well- being.

The Zoom-in demonstrates the high replication potential of the project for other cities in the European Union as well as the need to define and implement smart and innovative urban solutions to adapt to climate change.

Associated media

Share

Other news from this project

Adapting Schools to Climate Change through green, blue and grey solutions

The final countdown of Barcelona's Climate Shelters project - final journal

After four years of hard work, the GBG_AS2C project (also referred as Climate Shelters) had its closing event early October 2022. ...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate adaptation
Outdoor and indoor air quality at schools

Creating Healthy Air Quality in Schools

In this zoom-in, the issue of outdoor and indoor air quality in schools is discussed on the occasion of the project GBG_A2CC of the City of Barcelona....

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate adaptation
A selection of actions in support of an adaptation plan to climate change

A blueprint of actions at the city scale for a successful adaptation plan to climate change - Recommendations from the Barcelona GBG_AS2C project

This Web article presents a blueprint of actions for cities to draft their own adaptation plan to climate change, also exploiting their local knowledg...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate adaptation
Evaluation - an indispensable part of innovation projects

Evaluation - An indispensable component of innovation projects

Evaluation is an indispensable component of any project, especially innovation ones. It provides an understanding of the reliability of the applied me...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate adaptation
Design of the school yard - Mare Nostrum school

Upscaling with a vision - The school yard as a school

In this Web Article, the upscaling plan of the Climate Shelters project of the City of Barcelona is presented. The plan reflects a vision, namely to c...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate adaptation
Graphical representation of the Climate Shelters project

Journal No. 3 The “final mile” of the Climate Shelters project: communication, evaluation and replication

The Journal (the 3rd for the Climate Shelters project) aims to provide an overview of the progress of the Climate Shelters project, with emphasis give...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Sketch performance indicators

Indicators as tools for Adaptation to Climate Change at the city scale - The Climate Shelters project of the City of Barcelona

In this Web Article, the approach of the City of Barcelona towards the development of Performance Indicators as tools for Adaptation to Climate Change...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate adaptation
Temperarure

Changing the lens in urban design to cope with the impacts of climate change to health - The Barcelona approach

Protecting citizens at the neighbourhood scale in the event of heat waves is at the core of the Climate Shelters project of the City of Barcelona. Rea...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate adaptation
Data collecting for environmental purpose

Do the changes made in climate shelter schools improve pupils’ health?

Three institutions taking part in the project as scientific partners are taking samples and collecting data before, during and after the interventions...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate adaptation
School sketch

Cultivating a School Culture for Climate Action - The Barcelona example

In a world that’s becoming increasingly complex, there is a need to prepare especially young people for a future that will require good knowledge, an ...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate Shelters Journal 4: update on Barcelona's project

Climate Shelters Journal 2: update on Barcelona's project

In this second Journal, Constanitnos Cartalis guides us through the progress and the achievements of the “Climate Shelters” project; he describes the ...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate adaptation
The 11 schools in the Barcelona project are now “climate shelters”

The 11 schools in the Barcelona project are now “climate shelters”

Work has finished on turning the 11 schools into climate shelters, with the aim of helping the city to become more resilient to the climate emergency....

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate Shelter Schools evaluate their transformations

Climate Shelter Schools evaluate their transformations

The eleven schools taking part in the “Adapting Schools through Green, Blue and Grey” project, jointly funded by the European UIA programme, have rece...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate Shelter

Barcelona: a city in climate action

Image of the Can Fabras school yard following the conversion of the school to Climate Shelter ...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate adaptation
Image of Barcelona

Science in the City

Image of Barcelona by Kaspars Upmanis on Unsplash...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate adaptation
Co2 reduction
Greener Europe
Heat islands
Nature based solutions
Climate shelters in schools

Adapting Barcelona to Climate Change: A multi-criteria approach for the selection of schools to be converted to Climate Shelters - Zoom In

This zoom in focuses on a challenging feature of the Barcelona “Climate Shelters” UIA project, namely the methodology and criteria for the selection o...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate adaptation
Co2 reduction
Eco-district
Europe closer to citizens
Greener Europe
Heat islands
Nature based solutions

Barcelona’s Climate Shelters project The challenge of communicating unwelcome messages on climate change

To connect with people and communicate climate change effectively, one should convey more than climate facts to people. Instead, there is a need to un...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate adaptation
Europe closer to citizens
Greener Europe
Heat islands
Nature based solutions
GBG_AS2C journal: Climate shelters in Barcelona

GBG_AS2C journal: Climate shelters in Barcelona

In this journal, UIA Expert Constantinos Cartalis provides a contextualization of the Climate Shelters project within the policy context of the Europe...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Logo of the project showing a graphic synthesis a school yard with green and blue interventions

Barcelona’s pilot project to beat the heat

It is only 10 am but air temperature in Barcelona is already high; another heat wave has hit the city, causing the further enhancement of the heat isl...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain

Climate adaptation
Co2 reduction
Greener Europe
Heat islands
Nature based solutions
OASIS project visits GBG_AS2C in Barcelona

The team behind Oasis project in Paris visits Barcelona

Like GBG_AS2C, Paris also has its own climate refuge project in schools. There, they are known as ‘climate oases’, but their purpose is the same: turn...

GBG_AS2C - Blue, Green & Grey_Adapting Schools to Climate Change

Climate adaptation

Barcelona - Spain