Some neighbourhoods cope with a heatwave. Others bake. The difference often comes down to what’s growing on the street, not what’s forecast in the sky.
Streets with fewer trees and green spaces can run up to 5°C hotter than those with more. That’s not a marginal difference. It’s enough to change whether people want to walk, cycle or let their children play outside during exactly the months they’re most likely to want to.
Trees do more than block the sun
A tree’s cooling effect isn’t just about shade. As trees release water vapour through their leaves, that moisture evaporates and cools the surrounding air. It’s a mechanism hard paving simply can’t replicate.
Water isn’t just a drainage problem
Sustainable drainage systems, swales and rain gardens are usually thought of as flood management. But they also cool the local microclimate as they capture and store water. Designed as a visible part of the public realm, rather than hidden underground, they do two jobs at once: managing rainfall and bringing the temperature down.
One park won’t cool a town. A network might.
Parks, green corridors and planted streets all run cooler than hard paving, and they bring health, wellbeing and biodiversity benefits alongside the drop in temperature. But the biggest impact doesn’t come from any single space. It comes from connecting them into a network that runs through where people actually live and move.
Green and blue infrastructure first. Buildings second.
As temperatures continue to rise, designing for heat needs to be built into placemaking from the outset, not added afterwards. That means a landscape-led approach: space for trees, water and planting goes into the plan before a single building goes up.
Cooling isn’t just for us
It isn’t only about human comfort, and it isn’t only about trees. Long grass, scrub, resilient planting, ponds and streams all contribute to a layered landscape that keeps functioning as temperatures climb, supporting soil health and the wildlife whose pollination and pest control keep these systems working.
Design is only the start
Good design sets the intention, but a scheme only reaches its full potential with care taken after it’s built, ensuring it stays resilient and comfortable, now and in the future.