Feeling the Heat – adapting our urban environments to a warming climate
With record-breaking heat and prolonged dry conditions becoming more common across the UK, Dr Alisdair Cunningham, senior lecturer in Environmental Management and Sustainability at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, considers what a warming climate means for our cities, infrastructure, and communities.
This summer has provided a stark reminder of the changing climate we are already experiencing in the UK. By mid-July 2026 had already experienced three separate heatwaves, while temperatures of 35°C or higher had been recorded in May, June, and July for the first time in the UK weather record (Met Office, 2026a). The heat has also been accompanied by prolonged dry conditions. In Wales, July rainfall was just 8% of the long-term average, putting the month on course to be the driest July in Wales since records began 190 years ago (Natural Resources Wales, 2026).
These conditions reflect a changing climate rather than an exceptional summer. The UK’s climate is changing, and the conditions experienced this summer provide an indication of the challenges our urban environments will increasingly need to accommodate. The Climate Change Committee’s latest assessment projects that, by 2050, 92% of existing UK homes could be at risk of overheating, while water shortages are expected to become increasingly widespread (Climate Change Committee, 2026a).
What does ‘overheating’ mean in practice? In buildings, overheating occurs when indoor conditions exceed those considered acceptable for thermal comfort or when they may adversely affect human health (CIBSE, 2026). For homes, established assessment methods consider both the frequency with which indoor temperatures exceed acceptable comfort levels and the extent to which bedrooms remain above 26°C overnight (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2019). This means considering how well a building’s design protects occupants during prolonged periods of high temperature, rather than focusing solely on comfort during an individual hot afternoon.
Our urban environments were largely designed around the climate of the past. UK buildings have traditionally been designed with a strong emphasis on retaining heat during winter, while many of the materials and forms used in our urban centres – including extensive areas of hard paving, concrete, brick and tarmac, limited vegetation and dense development – can absorb and store solar energy and contribute to the urban heat-island effect (Met Office, 2026b). These characteristics were not necessarily intended to create warmer environments, but under increasingly extreme conditions they can amplify heat within our towns and cities.
The consequences extend well beyond the environment. Increased exposure to extreme temperatures can disproportionately affect vulnerable people, while excessive heat can disrupt schools, workplaces, and transport networks. During the June 2026 heatwave, around 1,000 schools were reported to have closed or shortened their school day because of the extreme temperatures, with some classrooms reaching temperatures above 40°C (UK Parliament, 2026). Employers have also been warned by the Health and Safety Executive that extreme heat creates risks to workers and productivity, particularly for people working outdoors and in physically demanding environments such as construction (Health and Safety Executive, 2026). Transport infrastructure is similarly vulnerable: during periods of extreme heat this summer, rail track temperatures reached the mid-50s Celsius, requiring speed restrictions to maintain safety (South Eastern Railway, 2026).
Taken together, these examples show how environmental conditions can expose weaknesses in the design of the places and infrastructure on which society depends.
If our current infrastructure cannot withstand the conditions experienced this summer, there is an urgent need to reconsider how we design and manage our urban environments. This means ensuring that new developments are designed with future climatic conditions in mind, while also considering how we can retrofit the buildings and infrastructure we already have. For our older and heritage buildings in particular, improving thermal performance, ventilation, shading, and resilience will be an increasingly important challenge.
How we manage water is another major consideration under a climate with drier summers and more intense rainfall events. Despite Wales being one of the wetter parts of the UK, recent conditions have demonstrated that water availability cannot be taken for granted. Rather than treating rainfall solely as something to be removed from urban areas, we need to consider how water can be captured, stored, and managed when it does fall.
Historically, urban infrastructure has often been designed to channel rainfall away from buildings and streets and into rivers as rapidly as possible. As our climate changes, we need to reconsider this approach. Sustainable drainage, increased vegetation, natural water storage, and other nature-based solutions can help us manage water within the urban environment while also providing shade, cooling and wider benefits for biodiversity and wellbeing. At the same time, climate projections indicate that heavier rainfall events and higher peak river flows will increase flood risk, demonstrating that adaptation needs to address both periods of water scarcity and periods of excess water (Climate Change Committee, 2026a).
However, technical solutions alone will not be enough. We need a workforce with the knowledge and skills to implement them, alongside people who are willing to question whether established practices remain appropriate for the conditions we now face. The Climate Change Committee has highlighted that progress in adapting the UK to climate change remains too slow, with action across many sectors still fragmented and insufficient to address the scale of the risks ahead (Climate Change Committee, 2025).
Tomorrow’s planners, architects, engineers, environmental practitioners, and construction professionals therefore need to be able to challenge conventional approaches and design for the climate we are likely to experience, rather than simply the climate we have experienced in the past.
At the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, we are teaching students to move beyond historic practices and develop more sustainable solutions for the future. Whether through the design of buildings, new construction materials and methods, improved water management, or the incorporation of natural processes into our urban environments, these skills and areas of expertise will be increasingly important in addressing the challenges of a warming and more variable climate.
The question now is how prepared we are to rethink the way we design, construct, and manage our urban environments so that they remain resilient as summers like this become increasingly commonplace.
References
Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) (2026) TM59: Overheating risk in dwellings – a design stage methodology. London: CIBSE.
Climate Change Committee (2025) Progress in adapting to climate change: 2025 report to Parliament. London: Climate Change Committee. Available at: Climate Change Committee (Accessed: 17 August 2026).
Climate Change Committee (2026a) A Well-Adapted UK: The Fourth Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk. London: Climate Change Committee. Available at: A Well-Adapted UK (Accessed: 17 August 2026).
The Guardian (2026) ‘“Children were calling for their mummies”: UK pupils struggle in 40C-plus classrooms’, The Guardian, 11 July. Available at: The Guardian (Accessed: 17 August 2026).
Health and Safety Executive (2026) Risks to workers from extreme heat must be managed. Available at: Health and Safety Executive (Accessed: 17 August 2026).
Met Office (2026a) Heatwave continues as UK records unprecedented run of 35°C days. Exeter: Met Office. Available at: Met Office (Accessed: 17 August 2026).
Met Office (2026b) Climate change questions: Why are cities warmer than rural areas? Exeter: Met Office. Available at: Met Office climate information (Accessed: 17 August 2026).
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (2019) Research into overheating in new homes: Phase 1. London: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Available at: UK Government report (Accessed: 17 August 2026).
Natural Resources Wales (2026) Drought status extended across all of Wales as environment continues to feel the strain. Cardiff: Natural Resources Wales. Available at: Natural Resources Wales (Accessed: 17 August 2026).
South Eastern Railway (2026) Stakeholder update – July 2026. Available at: South Eastern Railway stakeholder update (Accessed: 17 August 2026).
About the Author: Dr Alisdair Cunningham
Dr Alisdair Cunningham brings over two decades of professional and academic experience in environmental monitoring and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
With over a decade of experience in consultancy, he integrates practical, real-world applications into his teaching, bridging the gap between theoretical concepts and applied environmental management.
Dr Cunningham has applied his academic expertise to support global environmental monitoring initiatives across sectors such as forestry, water quality, agriculture, and infrastructure monitoring.
Dr Cunningham earned his PhD in Remote Sensing from Aberystwyth University, where his research focused on multi-sensor time-series analysis for monitoring landscape change in Wales using EO technologies.
Dr Cunningham’s extensive industry experience and research interests help inform his teaching across our undergraduate and postgraduate portfolio, where teaching is at the cutting edge of industry innovation.
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