Pexels Helena Jankovičová Kováčová
Project overview
Development of municipal strategies and action plans to improve heat resilience in cities
Global warming comes with more frequent and intense heat waves. Cities in central Europe need to adapt but many still lack efficient strategies and action plans to protect their citizens from heat. The Ready4Heat project helped them to introduce tested short-, medium- and long-term measures with a focus on the most urgent issue: sudden heat waves. The project made proven and tested measures such as heat warning systems accessible to all cities and helped them to adopt these quickly.
-
2,04m €
-
Project Budget
-
80%
-
of the Budget is funded by ERDF
-
4
-
Countries
-
6
-
Regions
-
9
-
Partners
-
4
-
Pilots
Duration
Start date
End date
Project progress
About the project
Ready4Heat has come to an end, and this website now presents the project’s final results, solutions and key outputs. The focus is on what was achieved, what was learned and how municipalities can build on these results in practice.
The project developed municipal heat health adaptation plans backed by measures such as heat warning systems and helped them to adopt these quickly. The Heat and Health Action Plans (HHAPs) of the cities were developed based on heat stress maps and workshops with stakeholders. The four pilot cities of Hajdúböszörmény (Hungary), Maribor (Slovenia), Weiz (Austria) and Worms (Germany), along with their technical partners working on climate change and health issues, introduced local networks of concerned groups to support each other and tackle the heat together.
The municipalities implemented pilot actions fitting to their heat-health actions plans: development of cooling green “urban islands” (Hajdúböszörmény), shading of a playground through the use of a green pergola (Maribor), the environmentally friendly cooling of rooms in a retirement home (Weiz), and the involvement of stakeholders within an urban area to build an active network (Worms).
Project partnership
Project partners
Lead partner
Development agency Sinergija
Project partner
Total partner budget
199,500 €
Total partner budget
219,523 €
Adaptation to climate change
Address
Galvanistr. 28 60486 Frankfurt am Main
Country
Germany (DE) Web
https://www.climatealliance.org
Total partner budget
210,000 €
Climate protection and adaptation to climate change
Total partner budget
220,000 €
Total partner budget
197,400 €
Location development Weiz
Total partner budget
220,080 €
Total partner budget
180,012 €
Total partner budget
301,819 €
Roadmap
1
The challenge: Heat waves in urban areas
Image: luis graterol via unsplash
Global warming has made heat waves more frequent and more intense. Cities in Central Europe need to adapt, but many still lack effective strategies and action plans to protect people from extreme heat. Ready4Heat supported four cities in developing local heat-health action plans and testing practical solutions for heat resilience.
2
Creating a strategic action plan
This strategy paper presents the lessons learned from developing the heat action plan in Worms. It highlights the importance of local structures, stakeholder involvement, sufficient resources and clear responsibilities when developing a Heat Action Plan. The paper offered strong basis for the other pilot cities, Weiz, Maribor and Hajdúböszörmény, and can be used by other municipalities in the future to develop their own plans.
3
Train-the-trainers workshops
The Train-the-Trainers workshops transferred knowledge from Worms to the other pilot cities and supported the development of effective local Heat Action Plans. The workshops helped cities adapt the project’s experience to their own local context and strengthen cooperation across the partnership.
4
Heat maps and climate analysis
To design targeted heat adaptation measures, the pilot cities first identified their heat hotspots. Satellite-based heat mapping was used to analyse temperature patterns and locate vulnerable infrastructure and population groups. A climate ensemble was also developed to show how heat days and tropical nights may change in the coming decades. The results are available under Outputs.
5
Stakeholder participation in the pilot cities
Citizen and stakeholder engagement played a central role in the project. Hajdúböszörmény, Maribor and Weiz carried out engagement processes that began with kick-off events in summer 2023 and continued with workshops in late 2023 and early 2024. These exchanges helped the cities shape measures that responded to local needs.
6
Implementing pilot actions
The cities of Hajdúböszörmény, Maribor, Weiz and Worms tested practical measures to reduce heat stress and improve health protection. The pilot actions demonstrated transferable solutions such as green islands, vegetated pergolas, renewable cooling and long-term heat protection structures. The related results and lessons learned are documented in the Outputs section and in the pilot action materials.
Overview of pilot actions
Pilot report: Lessons learned from pilots
Hajdúböszörmény Pilot Action: 47 small oases, together creating a cooler city
Maribor Pilot Action: Wooden pergolas with climbing vegetation in kindergartens
Weiz Pilot Action: Sustainable cooling solution for a nursing home
Worms Pilot Action: Long-term structures for raising awareness
7
Developing heat-health actions plans
Based on citizen engagement and the strategy and action plan concept, Hajdúböszörmény, Maribor and Weiz developed local heat-health action plans. These plans include tools such as warning systems, steering groups and catalogues of measures, and they were adopted by the city councils to secure long-term impact.
8
Advanced trainings
Online trainings were organised in each pilot city for multipliers working with vulnerable groups. These sessions supported the practical implementation of heat protection measures and strengthened local capacity.
9
Transferring the results
Ready4Heat shared its experience through policy briefs and transnational webinars. These materials present tested solutions and practical recommendations for municipalities that want to improve heat adaptation planning and move from pilot actions to long-term strategies.
10
Policy briefs transfer results from Austria, Germany, Hungary and Slovenia
The four policy briefs present concrete, evaluated solutions for improving heat protection measures. Based on the Ready4Heat pilot actions in Weiz, Maribor, Hajdúböszörmény and Worms, they translate local experience into recommendations that other municipalities can use and adapt.
Events
Pilot actions
Outputs
Municipal heat strategies and action plans for the mitigation of heat waves
Local Heat Strategies and Action Plans
Three local heat strategies and action plans for the cities of Hajdúböszörmény, Maribor, and Weiz have been developed. Each document covers a strategic and structural part, as well as an action plan with concrete measures to improve the situation caused by heat waves.
The development of the plans was based on a stakeholder participation process, as well as discussions within the project's co-working groups. A heat and climate analysis of the pilot cities' areas, along with a strategy and action plan concept, supported the output development. This concept outlines the development and implementation process of a heat-health action plan (HHAP) and reflects the experiences made by the city of Worms.
The strategy and action plan concept is useful for all municipalities embarking on the journey of designing their own HHAPs as part of their climate adaptation strategies. The blueprint for an HHAP is based on a German project where the city of Worms designed its plan in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences Fulda, the University Hospital Munich (LMU), Climate Alliance, and the Rhineland-Palatinate Competence Centre for Climate Change Impacts. This guideline describes the key steps Worms has taken, reflects on the process, and presents valuable lessons learned — providing a solid foundation for municipalities looking to strengthen their resilience against heat waves.
Type of output: Strategies and action plans
- Heat and climate analysis of the pilot cities areas
- Concept for municipal heat and health strategy and action plan development
- Hajduboszormeny: English summary of the heat and health strategy
- Hajduboszormeny: Municipal heat and health strategy and action plan (full version, in Hungarian)
- Weiz: English summary of the heat and health strategy
- Weiz: Municipal heat and health strategy and action plan (full version, in German)
- Maribor: English summary of the heat and health strategy and action plan
- Maribor: Municipal heat and health strategy and action plan (full version, in Slovenian)
Renewable-powered cooling for safe indoor environments
This solution integrates high-efficiency cooling with on-site renewable energy to protect people from heat stress in buildings where vulnerable groups spend long periods, such as care facilities, schools and health centres. By combining active cooling with photovoltaic generation, it keeps indoor temperatures safe during heatwaves while holding down energy demand, operating costs and emissions, without increasing dependence on the electricity grid. The accompanying policy brief recommends treating renewable-powered cooling as a strategic adaptation tool rather than a one-off technical upgrade: embedding it in Heat Action Plans, climate adaptation strategies and SECAPs, prioritising buildings used by vulnerable groups, and pairing technical measures with clear governance, early stakeholder involvement and long-term maintenance planning. Evidence from implementation shows the approach is technically mature and economically sound, delivering reliable indoor comfort, strong energy efficiency and lower emissions compared with conventional systems. It is widely transferable, as the underlying principle—matching cooling demand with local renewable supply—applies across regions and building types, allowing municipalities to start with the most heat-vulnerable buildings and scale up as capacity grows.
Type of output: Solutions
Nature-based shading in everyday public spaces
This solution uses simple nature-based shading—trees, vegetated pergolas, green roofs and shaded structures—to make public spaces cooler, safer and more usable during heatwaves, with particular benefit for vulnerable groups. The accompanying policy brief translates local experience into transferable recommendations: success depends less on the specific structure installed and more on good governance, early stakeholder involvement, clear responsibilities and secured long-term maintenance. Low-cost, realistic and socially accepted, these measures improve thermal comfort while supporting biodiversity, air quality and the quality of public space. Monitoring shows shaded zones can be several degrees cooler than fully exposed areas, with benefits increasing as vegetation matures, and users report more pleasant, more frequently used outdoor environments. The brief recommends integrating shading into local heat adaptation strategies and treating it as a repeatable approach that municipalities can start small and scale city-wide. Replicable across different formats and contexts, the solution offers a feasible, cost-effective pathway to strengthen urban heat resilience.
Type of output: Solutions
Small-scale green islands for cooler public spaces
This solution demonstrates how distributed, nature-based shading can improve thermal comfort in public and institutional spaces at relatively low cost. "Green islands" combine vegetation, pergolas and seating to create cooler microclimates and make heat-exposed areas more comfortable and usable, especially where site selection is informed by heat-stress analysis and local knowledge. The accompanying policy brief recommends that nature-based shading be treated as a cost-effective and feasible heat adaptation measure integrated into existing public spaces, with early stakeholder involvement to improve site selection, public acceptance and long-term success. Its central recommendations are clear: establish maintenance planning and clear responsibilities from the outset, and treat heat mitigation as a standard municipal service rather than a one-off activity. The solution can be integrated into existing public spaces and scaled over time, combined with tree planting, shaded seating and other complementary measures. Modular and flexible, it offers municipalities of different sizes a low-risk, socially accepted way to build long-term resilience to rising temperatures.
Type of output: Solutions
Municipal Heat Protection Network: an actor-centred approach
This solution strengthens social and institutional infrastructure rather than relying primarily on physical cooling installations. The core idea is to reduce heat-related health risks by activating and coordinating intermediary actors—care institutions, childcare facilities, welfare organisations and municipal services—that already work daily with heat-vulnerable groups. Through a cooperation charter, thematic working groups and practical tools such as a heat hotline and a map of cool places, municipalities can translate Heat Action Plans into everyday protective practice, even where large infrastructure investment is not feasible. The accompanying policy brief recommends formalising cooperation through light governance tools, tailoring communication to specific target groups, and treating heat protection as a long-term governance task rather than a short-term project. Benefits include better protection of vulnerable populations, stronger cross-sector cooperation, high public acceptance and low implementation cost. Highly transferable because it depends on governance capacity rather than physical infrastructure, the approach scales from a single working group in small towns to multiple coordinated groups in larger cities.
Type of output: Solutions
Project videos
Project documents
Results of the Project: Final Webinar
Information Materials
Ready4Heat
The project lead partner is responsible for the content of this project website.
Project on social media
Project contact
Eva Suba
Email: e.suba@climatealliance.org