Madrid: heat resilience and inclusive urban regeneration
Madrid’s pilot focuses on dense urban areas where heatwaves and urban heat-island effects intersect with housing stress, low incomes, limited green space and risks of displacement.
In places such as Tetuán and Bellas Vistas, many residents have fewer options to adapt individually to extreme heat. Some homes are poorly insulated or difficult to cool, and not everyone can afford private cooling solutions. This makes public space, community facilities, shade, water, vegetation and local support networks especially important.
“Putting vulnerable people at the centre of urban climate action.”
Puri Barreiros
Climate and justice challenges
The challenge is not only to reduce heat exposure. It is also to ensure that climate adaptation does not increase pressure on people who already face housing insecurity or fewer resources to protect themselves.
Urban improvements can make neighbourhoods more liveable, but they can also raise prices, attract speculative pressure or weaken existing social networks. JUST4CARE therefore approaches adaptation in Madrid as both a climate and social justice question: who benefits, who decides, who may be displaced, and what safeguards are needed?
What the pilot will do
The Madrid pilot will combine participatory diagnosis, co-design and monitoring. This may include mapping heat vulnerability and local resources, identifying priority places, exploring cooling solutions in public space and public facilities, and strengthening community networks that already support everyday resilience.
Possible actions include shade, vegetation, natural cooling, improved use of public facilities during heatwaves, and locally grounded activities that make climate adaptation understandable and useful for residents.
Communities and actors involved
The pilot is organised around a triangle of actors: residents more exposed to heat, local organisations and municipal teams. Espacio Bellas Vistas plays a key role as a local partner rooted in neighbourhood life, supporting participation, reflection and alliances around climate justice.
The work is also supported by municipal departments and local governance spaces, so that what is learned in the neighbourhood can inform public action beyond a single intervention.
What JUST4CARE wants to learn here
Madrid will help JUST4CARE understand how heat adaptation can be designed in dense urban neighbourhoods without contributing to displacement. The pilot will explore how public space, local culture, social infrastructure and municipal coordination can support fairer climate resilience.
Related partners: Ayuntamiento de Madrid, GEA21, Espacio Bellas Vistas, and other consortium partners as BC3, Democratic Society and Dark Matter Labs supporting risk assessment, participation, communication and learning.
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