Excessive warmth is now making cities unlivable. How can we survive it?

“My office felt like a steamer on Monday morning,” wrote Chinese language influencer Bi Dao in a social media publish in August. He fetched a drink from a supposed cold-water dispenser – it was 40.8°C (105°F). Bi, who lives in Hangzhou, a regional capital on China’s east coast, determined to roam the town with a temperature gun, pointing it at issues to search out out precisely how scorching that they had bought. “The ground was 72.6°C, the seat of a sharing bike was 56.5°C, the handrail in the metro station was 45°C, even the tree bark was 38.7°C,” he wrote. He ended his publish by thanking Willis Provider for inventing the air conditioner.

Hangzhou is understood for its lovely lake, giant pagoda and rolling inexperienced tea farms – not for warmth. However what Bi witnessed was solely one of many 60 “high-temperature days” – ones that topped 35°C (95°F) – that grilled the town and its 12.5 million inhabitants this yr. Hangzhou isn’t alone. Many cities worldwide are feeling the warmth. Issues are getting so dangerous that rising numbers of individuals face temperatures which might be past human endurance.

Already, such situations kill round half 1,000,000 annually. That may inevitably rise as local weather change will increase the quantity and depth of heatwaves across the globe. Cities are on the entrance line of this unfolding disaster. And China’s huge, densely packed megacities are main the way in which. In addition to offering a glimpse of what we’re in…