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Heat - Coggle Diagram

- - - - While most studies examining thermal health concerns and inequities have either studied urban microclimate patterns (e.g., Mitchell and Chakraborty, 2015), undertaken surveysof heat perceptions (e.g., Hass et al., 2021) or engaged urban manager perspectives on thermal governance (e.g., Hamstead et al., 2020).
    - - Unequal/injust experiences UHI -
    - - To date there is little discussion of everyday lived experiences with heat and cold, the tactics that people use to cope with thermal threats, or ways in which intersectional identities and power relations structure adaptive practices (Hamstead, 2023).
      - Shade
        
        Keegan (2023) - looks at exploitation of farmers in Georgia
      - Due to its invisible and slow-onset nature, understanding of how people experience and respond to heat in their daily lives - and how it varies across demographic and socio-economic context - are limited in this region (Klinenberg, 2013; Hajat et al., 2006).
      - Yardley et al. (2011) -
        There is sufficient evidence to indicate that a social ecological approach to heat health research is necessary, as a variety of physical, physiological, social and environmental factors play roles in heat-related morbidity and mortality, leading to a great deal of variability in health outcomes among communities. With this in mind, it would seem reasonable that more resources should be dedicated to researching how community level factors (both social and physical) affect local populations during heat events.
      - Robert & Pelling (2013) - In his sociological account of the deadly 1995 Chicago heat wave, Eric Klinenberg (1999: 242) defines environmental hazards as “re- vealers of social conditions”, providing us with an opportunity to see the underlying political processes involved in framing these events as biophysical. Building on Klinenberg’s work, Keller's (2015) recent in- quiry into the reasons that transformed the 2003 heat wave into a de- vastating political and social crisis in France, more specifically in Paris, has shown how a different valuation of life in French society pre- conditioned certain categories of citizens (e.g. the poor, the elderly, the homeless) to fall victim to the heat.
      - Maller & strengers (2011 - Maller & Strengers (2011) - Further, they do not provide in-depth ‘on-the-ground’ data relating to the settings of everyday life and how vulnerability is experi- enced in a real world context. This gap in knowledge has been recognized by Brown and Walker [(Brown and Walker, 2008), p. 370] who state: ‘. . . the understandings that need to be developed have to be cognisant of the particula- rities of culture, built form, social organization and social expectation that contribute to the production of vulnerability in context, rather than in the abstract’.
    - - Social capital and heat (Guardaro et al., 2022) - more social capital will help navigating heat
      - Wolf et al. (2010) - Social capital can make people more vulnerable and does not always decrease vulnerability
    - - Maller & Strengers (2011)
        
        Practices of interest would include preparation in advance for hot weather, ensuring availability and increasing intake of fluids, using technol- ogies and artefacts other than the air- conditioner, adjusting housing infrastructures such as windows, blinds and shading, changing clothing and bedding arrangements, using water to cool the body, moving around the house or property, seeking assistance from friends, neigh- bours and family members, changing physical activity and seeking communally air- conditioned spaces (e.g. libraries, shopping centres; Strengers, 2009). Research such as this, that is designed to understand householders’ day-to-day thermal comfort practices, particu- larly during short-term extremes of heat, could potentially isolate key social and contextual factors that moderate vulnerability.
- - - - Waste heat emissions from automobile traffic, air conditioners and industrial activities, sealed soils that reduce land's cooling ability; engineered materials that decrease reflectivity of the land's surface and street-level air stagnation can all be mitigated through urban land use planning and design (stone, 2009).
      - Urban heat governance sometimes takes the form of stand-alone plans (e.g., The City of New York, 2017), sometimes situated within overall urban resilience and climate adaptation plans (e.g., Marie de Paris and 100 resilient Citiesm 2017); emergency medical and preparedness protocols (e.g., Chu et al., 2021), and newly appointed urban officials who specifically deal with heat (e.g.m Avery, 2021; Martin, 2021).
      - Mitigation and response strategies recognise the unequal burden of heat, often aiming to alter biophysical characteristics of outdoor built environent in especially hot communities via promotion of latent hea tflux (e.g. expanding tree canopy), albedo modification (e.g. white roofing) or provision of shade cover (e.g. solar panel arrays in parking lots) (Dare, 2019).
      - Other strategies have taken the form of awareness building and attention-setting, either through recent initiatives to name and rank heat wave threat levels (e.g., State of California, 2022) or by informing people - especially these considered 'vulnerable' about the threats that they face (Casanueva et a:, 0219; Kotharkar and Ghosh, 2022).
      - Yardley et al. (2011) - All plans involve a threshold temperature at which the emergency response is initiated (Kalkstein et al., 1996; Koppe et al., 2004; Kosatsky et al., 2005; Fouillet et al., 2008). There is widespread use of television and radio to announce the heat warnings, and to provide practical advice on how to stay safe during hot weather (Kalkstein et al., 1996; Koppe et al., 2004; Kosatsky et al., 2005; Fouillet et al., 2008). Several plans also involve a telephone hotline individuals can call for information or assistance (Kalkstein et al., 1996; Kosatsky et al., 2005), cooling centres where the public can access air conditioning (Kalkstein et al., 1996; Koppe et al., 2004; Kosatsky et al., 2005) and an increase in the availability of emergency responders on days where the temperature is predicted to exceed the pre-determined threshold (Kalkstein et al., 1996; Koppe et al., 2004). It is also commonly recognized that the elderly are extremely susceptible to heat-related ailments, and measures are taken to ensure that institutions for the elderly and the medical personnel who care for them are adequately prepared (Koppe et al., 2004; Kalkstein et al., 1996; Fouillet et al., 2008; Kosatsky et al., 2005).
      - Mabon & Shih (2019) - Adger et al. in 2003 defined environmental governance as the resolution of conflicts through institutional arrangements that may facilitate or limit the use of natural resources. :
    - - Social inclusion, the social networks, systems and behaviours, provide protective factors for extreme heat (Chakalian et al., 2019).
      - Adaptive behaviours to heat are linked to subjective experiences of heat impact during hot days. Subjective perceptual experiences during hot days could be direct motives for heat prevention actions. People frequently experiencing negative perceptions of feeling moody, feeling inefficient, and illness were more likely to use umbrellas and hats on hot days. Demographic and socio-economic characteristics of individuals influence both perceived heat impacts and adaptive behaviours (Shih et al., 2022).
      - Three aspects are important: The lower sensitivity toward negative heat health symptoms form older people and diabetic patients. As negative perceptual experiences during hot days can be strong drivers of heat prevention actions, lower sensitivity to high temperature can prevent vulnerable populations from noticing threats and taking immediate action. Second, are social norms or biases that might undermine precautions to heat. Both men and older people reported significantly lower likelihoods of perceived heat impacts, which conflicts with findings from previous epidimiological research. Contextual factors of age and gender bias in a society might prevent people form expressing weakness and taking precautions. Third, is inequality of available resources for heat adaptation. Both lower personal income
      - Wolf et al. (2010) - Indeed, this common perception that responding to heat risks is about being sensible was articulated by one respondent thus: ‘‘I don’t think there’s much you can do about it, I mean just common sense things, like, you know, wear loose clothing and I suppose drink plenty of water, um, stay out of the sun.’’ (London primary respondent, female, age 75).
      - Hamstead (2023) based on research on hot and cold in Buffalo described how residents were applying for energy subsidies. These were mostly low-cost and DIY weatherisation.
      - Social capital
        
        Wolf et al. (2010) - social capital might not always decrease vulnerability towards heat - As a result, it may be insufficient to rely upon bonding social capital and common sense to prepare for and respond effectively to heat waves. These findings also demonstrate that perceptions of vulnerability by those who are vulnerable are important in shaping health outcomes and therefore support research by Satterfield et al. (2004) in highlighting that an in-depth apprecia- tion of these perceptions is necessary to understand responses to perceived risks.
      - Air-coditioning
        
        Yardley et al. (2011) - Having a working home air conditioner, or access to an air-conditioned environment for part of the day during extreme heat events, can significantly reduce the risk of heat- related morbidity and mortality [Odds ratio 0.23 (CI 0.1 to 0.6)] (Bouchama et al., 2007)
        
        Yardley et al. (2011) -
        While the prevalence of air conditioners has increased (especially in the United States) (US Census, 2008), so has the cost of the electricity required to run them (Kovats and Hajat, 2008)
        
        Yardley et al. (2011) - A study of elderly
        adults in Canada and the United States concluded that income was a limiting factor in whether or not home air conditioning units were actually used during periods of extreme heat (Sheridan, 2007).
        
        Maller & Strengers (2011) - However, air-conditioning is neither a technically feasible option in the short term nor an environmentally (and economically) sustain- able option in the longer term.
        
        Maller & Strengers (2011) - Rather, Australia’s temperate cities are experiencing significant peak demand problems caused primarily by increasing residential air-conditioner use, leading to regular blackouts on hot summer days.Rising peak demand is also responsible for current and predicted residential electricity price rises as more infrastructures are required to meet the demand on a small number of days each year (Strengers, 2008). At present, peak demand requires economically inefficient invest- ment in new electricity infrastructure which is only used for 1 – 2% of the year (DPI, 2009)—a cost which is currently passed on to all electri- city consumers (with or without air- conditioning).
        
        Maller & Strengers (2011) - These price increases will add to the heat-related vulnerability of low-income households, who may be unable to pay for cooling services. Furthermore, vulnerable households relying on air-conditioning during heat-related events will be left more vulnerable if blackouts occur on the hottest days when peak demand is at its worst.
        
        Mabon & Shih (2019) - Extreme urban heat could thus increase the burden on Taiwan’s national health care system. Warming enhances the demand on air conditioning and cooling systems, increasing the risk of electricity shortages. This may intensify in coming decades as Taiwan replaces its current coal and nuclear electricity base with renewable sources. This transition could (in the short term at least) be costly and affect capacity, with knock-on effects for consumers in electricity pricing (and hence affordability of air conditioning) and availability at times of high demand (Lee & Shih, 2010)
        
        Khan (2020) - Studies which emphasise the socio-economic aspects report that people's inability to buy electronic equipment (fans, air-conditioner or cooler) is one of the major barriers to heatwave adaptation, and the cost of the maintenance of those devices and energy bills also vital to consider as barriers to heatwave adaptation. For example, in a study by Gissing and Coates (2018) more than 20 per cent of people in Western Sydney were found to be concerned about the impacts of energy prices on their ability to use air-conditioning.
      - Maller & Strangers (2011) - Adaptive comfort and passive cooling studies also show that the ambient temperature of rooms can be significantly reduced with minimal energy input through infrastructure changes and social organ- ization (Nicol and Roaf, 2007; Santamouris, 2007). For example, the City of Philadelphia in the USA, which runs a Cool Homes Programme for elderly low-income residents, found that passive cooling measures, such as fans, interior air sealing and elastometric roof coating, reduced indoor temperatures by 2.58C (Santamouris, 2007).
      - Maller & Strengers (2011) - In another study, Nicol and Roaf (Nicol and Roaf, 2007) discuss the thermal routines of a cultural group in Iran, who have adapted their daily practices around the climate by moving around the house during the seasons to the coolest or warmest parts.
      - Khan (2020) - While various public health studies report the increased number of heat-related death across the world (Adams & Jardine, 2020; Arriagada et al., 2020; Gun, 2019; Honda & Onozuka, 2020; Macintyre & Heaviside, 2019; Murage et al. 2020), many studies emphasise behavioural adaptation strategies in helping people adapt to increasingly hot weather in their daily life activities (Ban et al., 2019; Das & Smith, 2012; Hendel et al., 2017; Viguie et al., 2020; White-Newsome et al., 2014; Xu et al., 2019).
      - Khan (2020) - The modes of adjustments to a thermal environment (heatwaves and cold waves) include but are not limited to changes in everyday activities such as changing drinking habits, changing clothing, adjusting room temperature and reducing travel time as part of behavioural adaptation practices. In addition, other adaptation strategies documented in various studies include staying under a shaded place [especially in remote and regional areas] during the mid- day, cooling down in open ponds or showers, drinking saline water and lemon water, eating watermelons, using the handheld fan (made up of leaves and bamboo sticks) and helping each other (e.g. Ashraf & Faruk, 2018; Esplin et al., 2019).
      - Memory
        
        Khan (2020) - Individuals’ past and current thermal experiences and reaction to a temperature are considered the ‘psychological process’ of adaptation practices. Individuals' acquired knowledge, past experience and skills to adjust to climate hazards enables them to cope with extreme temperatures; this is beyond the ‘simplistic approaches to adaptation’ (Esplin et al., 2019; Greening & Dollinger, 1992; Weinstein et al., 2000).
      - Khan (2020) - While multiple actors are working to educate people about heatwave adaptation, research indicates that digitalisation and visualisation to support adaptation to heat is important for educating the vulnerable (Ballantyne et al., 2018; Opach et al., 2020). However, the language barrier is reported as one of the barriers to the migrant communities in term of accessing and understanding the heatwave adaptation support resources (Hansen et al., 2011 & 2013; Hurlimann et al., 2018; Schmid & Keijzer, 2009; Sheikh‐Mohammed et al., 2006). A study in the UK found that while the various sources of information from both electronic and print media might provide useful risk communication links and resources on climate change impacts and adaptation approaches, they are unlikely to encourage people to engage with adaptation decision making (Harcourt et al., 2020). Heatwave communication in regards to heat-health communication, adaptation communication and emergency response is paramount to reduce the adverse impacts of heatwaves across communities and sectors.
    - - Hoffman et al. (2020) found that for- merly redlined areas in the USA show consistently higher temperatures partially due to a lack of trees and green space, while Locke et al. (2021) mapped historically redlined areas to the lowest percen- tage of tree canopy cover.
      - Knox-Hayes (2023) - Urban parks and trees are particularly effective green infrastructure interventions for urban cooling, and larger parks have the highest effect in both cooling intensity (effect on surrounding areas) and cooling distance (range of cooling beyond the park area) (Aram et al. 2019; Feyisa, Dons, and Meilby 2014; Zölch et al. 2016).
      - Knox-Hayes (2023) -Moreover, parks have a higher cooling effect on urban heat island in dense areas if they have higher canopy cover; more dense, complex and diverse vegetation; and a higher number of water bodies (Aram et al. 2019; Feyisa, Dons, and Meilby 2014; Xu et al. 2017).
      - Studies have, for example, demonstrated that the lack of access to quantity and quality of green spaces links to low-income, high-vulnerability residents feeling hotter in the summer, a “heat injus- tice” that could be corrected with more targeted allocation of green space and cooling facilities to more vulnerable areas (Burbidge et al. 2022; Mitchell and Chakraborty 2018).
      - Burbidge (2022) - Generally, socio-economically marginalised communities are more likely to live in neighbourhoods with less access to green spaces, which can lead to the experience of hotter temperatures and higher incidences of poor health during heat-waves.
    - - Disproportionate health impacts from urban heat island (UHI) are compounded by social patterns and a (lack of) social capital like social community networks, social norms and cultural behaviours, demon- strating the compound risk of heat and social vulnerability (Guardaro, Hondula, and Redman 2022; Rydin et al. 2012, Guardaro et al. 2022).
      - Consistently, those exposed to the highest land surface temperatures (LST) and who experience the most heat-related hospital visits are “disadvantaged com- munities” as defined by New York State’s (NYS) Climate Act and approved by the NYS Climate Justice Working Group, and comprised of low-income, minority residents with high exposure to environ- mental hazards and/or living in formerly redlined neighbourhoods (Bill S6599 2019; Hoffman, Shandas, and Pendleton 2020; Li et al. 2022; Mitchell and Chakraborty 2018; New York State 2021; Wilson 2020).
      - Guardaro et al. (2022) similarly utilise a social capital approach to identifying urban heat indicators, finding that social factors like trust and reciprocity, personal relationships and community engagement impact communities’ levels of resilience to urban heat.
    - - Lindberg and Grimmond (2011) evaluate the effect of shadow patterns from buildings and urban green space on mean radiant temperatures, and find that vegetation, in particular, can help to reduce urban heat stress. A similar conclusion is offered by Grossman‐Clarke et al. (2010) who found that urban development and land use cover shaped temperature extremes during four heat events in Phoenix, Arizona.
    - - Khanedkar et al. (2023) - India - Many, as we discuss later in this article, follow the original template devel- oped by the Ahmedabad HAP. This rapid proliferation of heat action planning, in part, is a result of a mandate from India’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for vulnerable regions in the coun- try to develop HAPs. It is also testament to the creativity and entrepreneurialism of the protagonists of the Ahmedabad HAP, who expended great efforts at developing resources and proactively communicating the Ahmedabad experience in order to pro- mote and facilitate its wide uptake.
        In subsequent years, much has been writ- ten in celebration of the Ahmedabad HAP and its afterlife (NRDC International: India, 2020). We do not, however, know much about the dynamics of its scaling.
      - Khanedkar et al. (2023) - Such predictions and recent experiences of the devastating impacts of heat waves have catalysed action aimed at understand- ing and mitigating the effects of extreme heat. Most notably, these have taken the form of Heat Action Plans (HAPs) – plans that identify vulnerabilities and elaborate protocols aimed at mitigating impacts result- ing from exposure to extreme heat, prevent- ing loss of life and property in particular.
      - Khan (2020) - Even though heatwave plans are made at the national and local level in the various countries, gaps remains in the social and institutional arrangements (Bakhsh et al., 2018; Beckmann & Hiete, 2020; Hansen et al., 2011; PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia [PwC], 2011; Wamsler & Johannessen, 2020).
- - - - Khandekar et al. (2023) - India is among the countries susceptible most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. According to the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, several parts of the country are expected to experience increasing fre- quency and intensity of heat waves in the upcoming century (Masson-Delmotte et al., 2021). By 2050, the city of Hyderabad, for example, is projected to witness doubling or even tripling of the number of heat waves that last longer than a week (Reusswig and Meyer-Ohlendorf, 2012).
      - Khanedekar et al. (2023) - Most notably, these have taken the form of Heat Action Plans (HAPs) – plans that identify vulnerabilities and elaborate protocols aimed at mitigating impacts result- ing from exposure to extreme heat, prevent- ing loss of life and property in particular. Since 2013, when the first urban HAP was developed in and for the western city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, local and regional Disaster Management Authorities have developed more than 30 HAPs focused on different cities, regions, and entire states in the country. Many, as we discuss later in this article, follow the original template devel- oped by the Ahmedabad HAP. This rapid proliferation of heat action planning, in part, is a result of a mandate from India’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for vulnerable regions in the coun- try to develop HAPs. In subsequent years, much has been writ- ten in celebration of the Ahmedabad HAP and its afterlife (NRDC International: India, 2020). We do not, however, know much about the dynamics of its scaling.
- - - - GBV
      - Hamstead (2023) - specific thermal experiences emerge from intersectional identities, such as gendered caregiving responsibilities which interact with weather to deepen experiences of isolation and marginalisation. In some cases, residents described their social status - as an immigrant, as someone who is underemployed, or who lives in an underinvested or unsafe neighbourhood - influenced their lived experiences of indoor and outdoor environmental quality. For many residents, thermal struggles are not necessarily extraordinary, but rather typical everyday mundane experiences.
    - - During a 2014 heatwave in Portland, Oregon, poor and non-white populations had a higher risk of heat exposure (Voelkel et al., 2018).
      - Other studies have similarly found that areas in the US which were redlined and thus where non-white populations are overrepresented have higher land suface temperatures (Li et al., 2022; Wilson, 2020).
      - UHIs intensify the effects of heat waves, and those most vulnerable to extreme heat events often live in the poorest neighbourhoods with the highest UHI intensity (Wilhelmi et al., 2013).
      - In Asia - living in poor quality housing combined with limited or-non-existing cooling, results in lower-income households suffering more heat waves (Harlan et al., 2007).
      - US - Less directly living in areas with high levels of crime and limited public amenities may make vulnerable groups, particularly the elderly and ethnic minorities more likely to suffer and die from heatwaves because of reluctance to leave their homes (Klinenberg, 2015).
      - Thermal conditions have vastly uneven impacts across race, gender and income (Vaidyanathan et al., 2020) and especially in cities, microclimates vary on a scale that is comparable with urban to rural differentials.
      - Low income communities and communities of colour are at greater risk of injuries or death during heat events (Gronlund et al., 2015; Harlan et al., 2013; Kuras et al., 2015).
      - Over the last several years US-based studies have illustrated that heat-exacerbating outdoor built environments are coupled with racial segregation patterns institutionalised during the New Deal Era if the last century (Hoffman et al.m, 2020; Wilson, 2020).
      - Californians living in subsidised housing are more vulnerable to extreme heat than the ones in unsubsidised housing. Subsidised housing is located in the hottest tracts that simultaneously also have the most sensitive populations and barriers to adapt (high-high tracts) (Gabbe and Pierce, 2020).
      - Extreme heat is the largest cause of weather-related death in the United States, and climate change will worsen heat-related public health emergencies (National Weather Service, 2018; U.S. EPA, & CDC, 2016). People who are most sensitive to the effects of heat - including seniors, children, and those with preexisting health conditions - and those without access to air conditioning (AC) will face the greatest health challenges, making policy support for adaptation measures essential (Hajat and Kosatky, 2010; Kovats and Hajat, 2008).
      - In low-income and ethnic minority groups in Taiwan, electricity cost may outweigh cooling benefits from using air-conditioning (Shih et al., 2022)
      - Marginalised communities are often more vulnerable to heat because of the lack of ways of adaptation available because of a lack of green spaces, air-conditioned and cool spaces and exposure to heat in labouring jobs.
      - Yardley et al. (2011) - Significant differences were found in data comparing heat- related mortality in 7 different U.S. cities showing that at temperatures over 29 8C, the percentage change in daily mortality for black individuals was twice that for white individuals when data were pooled (O’Neill et al., 2003).
      - Maler & Strengers (2011) - climates have shown that older people comprise the majority of victims in hot weather events, most likely because they have pre-existing con- ditions such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes (Brown and Walker, 2008). However, other groups identified as vulnerable include low-income households (Smoyer, 1998; Borrell et al., 2006; Harlan et al., 2006; Rey et al., 2009), young children, the homeless and those with mental ill-health (Bouchama et al., 2007). Vulnerability is also increased for those residing in urban areas due to the urban heat island effect (Harlan et al., 2006)
    - - Health
        
        Physical health
        
        In her research on the experiences of hot and cold in Buffalo, the USA, Hamstead (2023) describes how residents discussed the exhaustion, difficulty breathing and fainting as common summertime symptoms, and headaches, muscular tightness, including neck and back pain or leg cramps. Less common summertime experiences included swelling, loss of appetite, restlessness at night while trying to sleep, and feelings of aggressiveness. Several residents also related heat symproms to medical conditions such as asthma, for example. (not described as wellbeing)
        
        Wolf et al. (2010) - While there seemed to be broad knowledge among some primary respondents of the health effects of extreme heat, such as tiredness and exhaustion, risk of dehydration and health condi- tions that have been found to exacerbate vulnerability to heat stress (cf., e.g. Koppe et al., 2004; Kovats and Jendritzky, 2006) were less well known.
        
        Mental health
        
        In her research on the experiences of hot and cold in Buffalo, the USA, Hamstead (2023), residents described a sense of anxiety and lack of control over the heat and cold, often blaming those who are in control - the uncooperative landlord, the exploitative utility company, and the understaffed energy bureaucracy.
        
        Public Health
        
        Yardley et al (2011) - Heat and public health - This paper reviews the literature on the social and community level factors that affect heat-related morbidity and mortality in order to identify shortfalls in current heat health response plans so that new approaches can be recommended.
      - Place
        
        Home
        
        In her research on the experiences of hot and cold in Buffalo, the USA, Hamstead (2023) describes how residents describe thermally uncomfortable conditions. For example, in her study, some described that air condition units as unsafe, because robbers could break in through a first-floor window air conditioning unit. Others said that air conditioning was unaffordable or unhealthy. (not described as wellbeing)
        
        Work
        
        Neighborhood
        
        Yardley et al. (2011) - Some of the inconsistent findings with respect to the influence of income, education, and race on the risk of mortality during extreme heat may be related to community and neighborhood level factors (both physical and social) that can either alleviate or exacerbate hot weather effects (Smoyer, 1998; Klinenberg, 2002).
        
        Yardley et al. (2011) - An examination of microclimates in eight different neighborhoods of the same city showed that lower SES groups and ethnic minority groups were more likely to live in neighborhoods where high settlement density, sparse vegetation, and limited open space created higher temperatures (Harlan et al., 2006).
        
        Yardley (2011) - The answer seemed to lie in how the communities themselves differed in their commercial and economic development, which in turn affected the social environment (Klinenberg, 2002). The high risk community had slowly lost many of its businesses over the years and had also lost many of its residents, leaving several abandoned buildings and empty lots. With few or no local amenities, as well as crumbling infrastructure, fewer people ventured out into the streets. Vacant lots with dense weed coverage also proved to be an ideal setting for gangs and drug dealers, leading to an increase in crime in the neighborhood. Residents admitted to being afraid for their safety and, as a result, left home rarely. Several elderly residents also claimed that living on higher (and therefore hotter) floors felt safer than living on ground floors and expressed anxiety at the thought of leaving windows open, for fear of being robbed. Even during the heat wave, many individuals did not leave home daily, resulting in a high rate of heat-related casualties (Klinenberg, 2002).
      - Work
        
        Based on their household survey on heat impacts in Taiwan, Shih et al. (2022) discuss how a sign of biophysical acclimatisation and adaptation of behaviours was found with people frequently working outdoors. They do not necessarily experience discomfort more frequently working outdoors, but are more likely to use umbrellas and hats.
        
        The number of lethal hot days has significantly increased in lower latitude areas reducing the productivity of labour and the liveability in warm climates Mora et al, 2017; Perkins-Kirkpatrick et al. (2020).
        
        Gender and work
      - Social relations
      - Explicit wellbeing and heat
      - Heat stress
        
        Maller & Strengers (2011) - Therefore, Brown and Walker (Brown and Walker, 2008) propose a more accurate conceptualization of vulnerability to heat stress, which they define as a reduction in capacity to adapt to hot weather and/or exposure to heat due to existing social and con- textual factors.
      - Mobility
        
        Khanam (2020) - For instance, in January 2009, residents of Melbourne experienced failure of train and tram networks due to outage of power (Reeves et al., 2010), and in January 2014 again people suffered from disrupted public transport services in Melbourne as a result of heatwaves (Steffen et al., 2014).
      - Economic loss
        
        Khan (2020) - Economic loss is considered one of the major consequences of heatwaves in high-income countries. For instance, heatwave events cost Victoria 0.025 percent of gross state product each year totalling $87 million (Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning [DELWP], 2019, p.1). It was predicted that by 2030 heatwaves will impact on the Victorian economy, and that will worsen over time, with estimated costs approximately $179 million per year if necessary actions are not taken (DELWP, 2019, p.1). However, a comprehensive and inclusive adaptation plan is required to respond to Australia's deadliest hazard.
    - - rich and upper class in tropical countries may work and live in offices, skyscrapers and shopping malls and other citizens might be excluded from these spaces (e.g., Connell, 1999; Roitman and Recio, 2020).
      - Richer groups consume the highest rates of air conditioning and emit most carbon. Air-conditioned environments also exude heat, creating a vicious cycle: heat dumping increases UHIs and causes further demand for air-conditioned environments (Graham, 2015).
      - Wealthy groups often have better access to public parks or private green space such as in private residential housing estates and condominiums (Marks and Connell, 2023).
      - Robert & Pelling (2018) - In addition to this loneliness, there is another factor that comes into play at the Barbican and that is somehow related to the social capital exercised by affluent people: overconfidence about being in control of their life (Bourdieu 1991). Although all Barbican’s interviewees were connected to the internet, educated and well travelled, and they knew about climate change and its potential implications for health and infrastructures, their social capital and still very active lifestyle made them feel different, if not external, to their age group.
      - Yardley et al. (2011) - There is also evidence to indicate that more affluent individuals and groups may have better access to health care services than those who are less privileged (Lasser et al., 2006).
    - - Seniors' bodies have more difficulty regulating heat because of changes of their thermoregulatory systems (Kovats & Hajat, 2008).
      - Older people, diabetic patients, and men tend to be less sensitive to high temperatures, leaving them with higher heat risk (based on research in Taiwan, Shih et al., 2022).
      - Robert and Pelling (2018) - How do the elderly experience community? Two extremes can be discerned that can generate vulnerability to heatwave and other risks. For some elderly people, declining physical and economic capacity may constrain mobility. This can increase reliance on local social connections and organisations at a time in life when making new relation- ships is difficult. For others, distant family and friends can be connected to while local relationships might be less immediately important for daily well‐being, leading to a hol- lowing out of community experiences. Finally, many isolated elderly, especially men, have limited social relations and may rely on visits to health practitioners or day support for personal contact.
      - Yardley et al. (2011) - When individual heat events were studied, relationships between ethnicity and heat-related mortality were also found. Age-adjusted death rates among heavy laborers during a 1980 heat wave in Texas, for example, were found to be 0.8 per 100,000 for white and Hispanic individuals, approximately one third of the rate of 2.1 per 100,000 found for black individuals (Greenberg et al., 1983). The same study noted that a comparison group showed a similar rate of non-heat related deaths for black individuals performing heavy labor during the same year, leading the authors to question whether socioeconomic status may have been more of a factor than ethnicity
      - Yardley et al. (2011) - Meanwhile, during a heat wave in St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri that same year, age-adjusted heat stroke rates were found to be up to six times higher for non-white individuals than they were for white individuals (Jones et al., 1982). Similar to the Texas study, this analysis concluded that socioeconomic status was probably a significant factor in the differences between groups.
      - Yardley (2010) - A recent study of temperature-related mortality in Brisbane, Australia found that the relationship between mean daily temperature and all-cause mortality was modified by age and gender, but not by socio- economic status (Yu et al., 2010).
      - Maller & Strengers (2011) - Studies conducted in a range of locations and climates have shown that older people comprise the majority of victims in hot weather events, most likely because they have pre-existing con- ditions such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes (Brown and Walker, 2008).
      - Mabon and Shih (2019) - Extreme heat is therefore a serious issue for Taipei, with concerns over deterioration of air and water quality, spread of disease, change of precipitation, and such public health impacts as increased mortality among the elderly (see Lin et al., 2008).
      - Khan (2020) - Elderly people are reported to be the group most vulnerable to the consequences of heatwaves. For example, due to extreme heatwaves 1100 people aged over 65 died in Australia and New Zealand during 1997 to 1999 (McMichael et al., 2003, p.3).