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Description
This project will connect the abstract, global and seemingly disconnected natural and physical occurrences with people’s local knowledges and embodied experiences. Our aim is to understand how people experience climate change on a daily basis, and to explore climate change as both an environmental and social phenomenon. The project focuses on urban overheating. Urban overheating and heat waves in cities have been increasing the rates of deaths and diseases. By combining natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities, this project aims to connect the environmental and biological aspects of urban overheating with people’s social experiences. There are two main goals of this research project: (1) to understand how climate change and urban overheating have been impacting vulnerable groups, and (2) to understand people’s embodied and socially situated experiences of overheating. More specifically, the project aims to study and explore the bio-social adaptive and coping mechanisms of dealing with urban overheating. An important goal of this research project is to develop a transdisciplinary methodology to study climate change. The project includes researchers who come from a diverse set of disciplines, such as physics, sociology, environmental and climate science, and social anthropology. During the entire research Project Partners will exchange knowledge and collected data, and let the different scientific perspectives of the research project inform each other. While this research project will be especially valuable for local governments in the two studied cities, we believe that new data on bio-social coping and adaptive mechanisms will be of interest to other policy makers across Europe as well. Moreover, since this project aims to humanize climate science, it will also contribute to the public’s perception, awareness and understanding of climate
Summary of project results
Project “Embodying Climate Change. Transdisciplinary Research on Urban Overheating” (EmCliC) (no. 2019/35/J/HS6/03992) aimed to address the gap in understanding how climate change affects vulnerable populations and how people experience climate change on a daily basis. Our case study was urban heat. Climate change means hotter, longer and more frequent heatwaves, especially in cities. This is a serious concern in Europe, where heatwaves are the most common climate hazard, affecting people’s lives, health and wellbeing. Older adults (over 65) are among those most at risk, because of their age, health, finances and sometimes limited social connections. We focused on the experiences of adults above 65 years old in two European cities, Warsaw and Madrid. We chose two cities with different climates and the cultural history of adaptation to high temperatures.
Research on climate change and urban heat is dominated by physical, environmental and biomedical perspectives, while in EmCliC we aimed to conceive of heatwaves as simultaneously biophysical and social phenomenon. Therefore, we implemented interdisciplinary research based on the collaboration between natural and social scientists from social anthropology, sociology, atmospheric physics, climate science and epidemiology. We juxtaposed and combined the large scale, top-down biophysical data and localized and individualized qualitative bottom-up data. We aimed to highlight the embodied knowledge older adults have about urban heat and climate change and to elevate its’ importance in the eyes of natural scientists and the wider public. Finally, we were interested in studying older adults’ adaptation strategies to better understand how they experience and adjust to increasing heat in the city.
Our aim was to showcase why research with vulnerable populations is important for a greater understanding of climate change hazards and adaptation. We wanted to demonstrate not only the added value of social sciences’ research in studying climate change, but also to test and showcase how such interdisciplinary research can be done in practice.
The EmCliC project brought together researchers from the natural sciences and social sciences, anthropologists, sociologists, environmental physicists, climatologist and epidemiologist. We also collaborated with a medical doctor and architects. We have spent a lot of time on learning about each other’s methodological approaches and perspectives and discussing our mutual objects of study, and later collaboratively analyzing the data.
We used and combined a wide variety of methods including: (1) analyzing high resolution climate data with health and demographic data for mapping groups vulnerable to heat stress. We used it to create high-resolution projections of vulnerability changes towards 2050 in Madrid; (2) calculating heat-related mortality risks in Warsaw and Madrid; (3) mapping temperature changes for both cities; (4) surveying over 1000 older adults in each city about their heat experiences, combined with temperature measurements; (5) conducting ethnographic research with 10 older adults in Warsaw and in Madrid in the summers of 2021 and 2022, which included participant observations, drawing, photo elicitation, and filmmaking in Madrid; (6) combining ethnographic research with the use of sensors, which measured air temperature in participants’ flats; (7) organizing participatory workshops in the summer of 2022 in both cities; (8) conducting focus group interviews in 2021 with 81 older adults living in Warsaw; (9) analyzing heat-related policies at the city and national levels in Poland and Spain. Moreover, the collaboration with architects and a medical doctor resulted in reports, which showcase the urban and architectural aspects of experiencing heat in Warsaw and in Madrid, and the risk factors and health implications of heat stress for older adults.
The data obtained through these various research methods were then presented and discussed internally within the EmCliC team. We looked for convergences and divergences in methods and data sets and collaboratively analyzed the data. The main outputs of our projects are peer-reviewed academic articles (6 of which are already published, and 5 are currently under review). Another output includes an ethnographic film The Wave, created in collaboration with research participants in Madrid. We believe that through our work we showcase why such an interdisciplinary approach is necessary to better understand urban heat and other climate change hazards.
We believe that our project has had various impacts on numerous beneficiary groups.
For the scientific community:
New knowledge about urban heat and climate change disseminated through a multitude of conference presentations, lectures and academic publications;
Innovative interdisciplinary methodology tested and used in our project showcases how to successfully integrate quantitative and qualitative data, and how to bridge the gap between scientific definitions and people’s lived experiences. This methodology can serve as a model for future research on climate change and vulnerability.
We shared data resources on heat-stress vulnerability projections; ethnography participants sensors’ readings; and anonymized thermosurvey data investigating thermal comfort and adaptation strategies of older populations.
For policymakers and practitioners:
EmCliC provided policymakers with concrete evidence-based insights on the risks of “stay at home” advice, heatwave definitions and the diverse experiences and vulnerabilities of older adults facing urban heat.
Gathered and showcased adaptation strategies used by older adults, as well as barriers to effective adaptation (e.g. energy poverty).
Easily digestible expert reports that analyze the interaction between architecture, city design and urban heat, as well as heat’s health impacts.
For older adults:
EmCliC gave older adults a platform to share their experiences, perspectives, and expertise on adapting to urban heat. Our participatory approach empowered them and ensured that their voices were heard in the research process.
Our results raised awareness about the issue of urban heat and its disproportionate impact on older adults. Our workshops, public events, and the ethnographic film The Wave, directed by one of our researchers, reached various audiences fostering greater understanding and potentially leading to increased advocacy for change.
For the general public:
Increasing awareness of the public and policymakers about climate change, urban heat and their impacts, potentially leading to more and better adjusted strategies of dealing with heat at the national, municipal and individual levels.
Increasing people’s understanding of heat related risks (e.g. through museum exhibition; media and public debates) and thus motivating them to search and push for heat adaptations.
Summary of bilateral results
The EmCliC project involved a total of 13 researchers from Poland and Norway: 6 Polish researchers (actively involved in various project tasks, including data collection, analysis, and interdisciplinary coordination) and 7 Norwegian researchers: Primarily from CICERO with additional researchers involved in sensor work and transdisciplinary methodology development.This mix of Polish and Norwegian researchers supported the project’s goals by bringing together expertise from both countries and fostering a strong bilateral exchange.