Climate shelters, an alternative to cool off without development in La Rioja

The need to stay in cool, well-heated places sometimes clashes, especially among the most vulnerable population and those with fewer material resources, with the existence of spaces that offer these conditions on days of extreme heat that multiply year after year. One of the solutions gaining momentum in many European cities is the creation of climate shelters, indoor and outdoor spaces with cooler conditions to stay in to protect themselves from the torrid sun.

Barcelona was the first Spanish city to develop a network of this type, opening accessible and free “thermal comfort spaces” that have rest areas, water fountains and a maximum temperature of 26º, for example, schools, libraries, centers civic and other municipal buildings. Furthermore, outdoors, the public parks that are part of this network must have a large proportion of green and tree-lined areas. The difference between an asphalt road in the sun and a garden area in the shade of plants can be up to twenty degrees.

Other cities such as Bilbao and Vitoria have joined the Barcelona initiative, which is still not widespread. In Logroño, last summer the municipal group of the PSOE presented a motion on the implementation of a plan for climate shelters in the city, detailing a hundred spaces that could be dedicated to this purpose: youth, social and civic centers, schools, Neighborhood associations, sports centers, parks… The initiative was rejected with votes against PPy Vox. On the other hand, Henar Moreno, IU deputy, recently defended the same idea in the Parliament of La Rioja: «It is the obligation of public powers to guarantee a dignified life and equity also in this area. “It is necessary to enable climate shelters, something that has a lot to do with a social model of sharing times and places.”