Urban Heat Stories
What is Urban Heat Stories?
Heatwaves and hot days are expected to increase in Vienna. Urban factors such as high building density and extensive surface sealing exacerbate the Urban Heat Island effect. While existing systematic data highlights the socio-spatial impacts of extreme heat on a macro level in Vienna, heat vulnerability can vary significantly on a smaller scale.
This vulnerability is influenced by numerous socio-spatial and socio-structural factors, such as age, health conditions, and the immediate living environment – factors that existing micro-level data rarely capture. The Urban Heat Stories citizen science project collects individual heat experiences from vulnerable groups in Vienna, aiming to make the diverse impacts of extreme heat on urban residents visible in the context of their socio-spatial environment.
The project also aims to develop a chatbot prototype to systematically evaluate the social dimensions of urban heat. This tool will inform strategic recommendations for sustainable urban development that integrates the needs of vulnerable groups into planning processes as temperatures rise.
Urban Heat Stories is a citizen science project where city residents play a central role as research partners. In a two-part workshop, participants map their frequently used public spaces within their local neighbourhood. These identified locations are then examined through perception and exploratory walks using mobile sensors to measure temperatures. The measured temperatures are compared with participants’ personal heat perceptions, providing a foundation for discussion. These discussions shape the Urban Heat Stories, which serve as a basis for developing an innovative chatbot prototype to assess urban heat perception.
Since September 2023, four workshops have been held with senior citizens as part of the Citizen Science initiative around Quellenplatz (10th district, Vienna). The project plans to expand to other city districts and target groups in spring/summer 2024. A first chatbot prototype is expected to launch in winter 2024.
Up-to-date information on upcoming workshops will be available from spring 2024. If you are interested in participating in heat experience research (e.g., attending workshops or testing the chatbot) in your neighbourhood, you are welcome to send a brief email to one of the contact addresses below.
The findings will form the basis for recommendations to urban planning authorities and will be incorporated into current development projects, such as WienNeu+ (10th district). The results will also be published on the website of the future.lab Research Center at TU Wien. For participants, as co-researchers, the findings will be made available in a free printed edition.
The project team consists of researchers from the future.lab Research Center and the TU Wien Library, alongside local residents as Citizen Scientists. Urban research takes place not in laboratories but collaboratively on-site, where residents contribute their experiences and interests.
The project is implemented as part of the European research initiative OPUSH in close cooperation with the partner project Heat Chronicles (Cròniques de la Calor) by Open Systems at the University of Barcelona.
- Österreich forscht
- Luftdaten.at
- Wunderbyte
- GB* Gebietsbetreuung Stadterneuerung (Districts 3, 4, 5, 10, 11)
- City of Vienna, MA 21 – District Planning and Land Use
- City of Vienna, MA 22 – Environmental Protection
- City of Vienna, Building Directorate
- OeAD – Agency for Education and Internationalisation
Contact
Projekt Lead future.lab:
Helena Bernhardt
helena.bernhardt@tuwien.ac.at
Project Lead TU Wien Bibliothek:
Sebastian Harnacker
sebastian.harnacker@tuwien.ac.at
01 58801 44032
(c) Header-Bild: Verity Harrison