With the public health impacts of climate change-fuelled heatwaves being felt on almost every continent, communities and organisations are coming together to improve heat resilience. Heat resilience aims to reduce urban heat, while also building the capacity of communities in adapting and responding to extreme heat events.
At Sweltering Cities, we know that heatwaves impact some communities more than others, which is why the solutions to cool down our streets, homes, and workplaces, must prioritise the voices and insights of the community.
Here are 5 ways that communities, organisations, leaders, and researchers around the world are working together for a cooler, more equitable, heat-safe future:
Indonesia’s Cool Roofs
Led by architecture professor, Beta Paramita, a project to install low-cost, sustainable ‘cool roofs’ in Indonesia is successfully reducing the indoor temperatures of buildings and helping to lower the urban heat island effect.
70 buildings, across 15 cities in Indonesia, were coated with a solar-reflective paint that has reduced outdoor surface temperatures by up to 12°C and indoor temperatures by 3°C. Buildings installed with cool roofs included affordable housing units, schools, factories, and an orphanage. It is estimated that over 10,000 people will have access to the cooling benefits of this project in reducing heat stress and energy demand during extreme heat.
We’d love to see more cool roofs across hot suburbs in Australia! Sweltering Cities is advocating for a ban on hot, dark roofs in our hottest suburbs. For more information, you can read our Hot Roofs report.
Mobile Resilience Pod in Miami
A first-of-its-kind mobile ‘Community Resilience Pod’ in Miami is providing residents with solutions to extreme heat, flooding, sea-level rise, food security, and pandemics through advocacy and public service campaigns.
This project, launched by local governments in partnership with the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, has transformed a shipping container into a highly versatile, interactive space that is being used for climate resilience.
Heatwaves and hurricanes pose growing risks to communities across Miami. This mobile pod, which can be transported to different neighbourhoods, is designed to support residents during climate emergencies. The pod provides: cooling access during heatwaves, phone charging stations and Wi-Fi access in the event of power outages, emergency & medical information, food and water supply, and is used as a space for community education.
Cool Bus Stop, India
In Ahmedabad, India (where summer temperatures can soar above 42°C), city officials have introduced an innovative solution to help bus commuters cope with extreme heat.
This initiative is part of Ahmedabad’s Heat Action Plan, which was developed in response to a deadly heatwave in 2010. The cool bus stop features ‘khus curtains’, made from dried grass that acts as a natural barrier against heat, as well as a high-pressure misting system to absorb heat from the environment. This can reduce temperatures at the busy bus stop, which serves approximately 3,000 commuters daily, by 6–7°C. The project was launched in March 2025 with local government agencies, in collaboration with the Mahila Housing Trust.
Sweltering Cities is fighting for better, cooler bus stops in Sydney’s hottest suburbs– check out our campaign!
Philadelphia’s Beat the Heat Campaign
A community-driven approach to climate resilience, led by local government and community partners in Philadelphia.
Initiatives like block parties, community heat surveys, workshops, tree giveaways, and pop-up cooling events were used to bring people together and promote social equity in planning for extreme heat.
This campaign identified that some neighbourhoods with a higher concentration of low-income residents and residents of colour are hotter and more heat-vulnerable due to low tree canopy, poor housing stock, fewer green spaces, and more dark surfaces.
Community members from these heat vulnerable neighbourhoods were engaged throughout this campaign to acknowledge causes for heat disparities while also supporting community-driven decision-making about how to reduce these inequities. Some of the recommendations made by the community included neighbourhood greening programs, shaded bus shelters, improving cooling access in public spaces, and energy bill relief for cool, safe homes.
African Urban Heat Summit
A one-day summit on urban heat in Freetown, Sierra Leone, bringing together climate experts, local policymakers, and multilateral organisations to discuss and collaborate on solutions to the urban heat crisis in Africa.
The summit was organised by Climate Resilience for All– an NGO dedicated to strengthening the heat resilience of women and vulnerable communities.
One example of collaboration in action at the summit came from the release of Freetown’s first Heat Action Plan, outlining actions and policies to enhance climate resilience, such as shade structures for market vendors. These shade structures help protect the health of market vendors, who are predominantly women from low-income backgrounds. At the same time, the shade structures also boost market productivity by preventing the market goods from spoiling and expanding the times in which market vendors can work in safe conditions.
Join the movement for greater heat resilience in Australia!
Interested in being part of the community voice calling for more heat action in Australia? Sign up to Sweltering Cities’ mailing list or join our team as a volunteer!
From advocating for heatwave safe homes for all, a climate-safe planning system, and national recognition of the health crisis of rising temperatures– we know collective action works!
A special thank you to our volunteers, Aparna I. and Julia D., for contributing to this blog! You can help us out with research, design, and event planning by joining as a volunteer today.
