Designate a free climate-shelter network in existing public buildings

#00189

Designate libraries, schools, museums, civic centers, and pharmacies as a free climate-shelter network kept at or below 26 C, with standards for open access, seating, and drinking water. Coverage grows cheaply by repurposing existing buildings, but impact depends on public awaren

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Maricopa County / Phoenix, USA

Partial

City of Phoenix Office of Heat Response and Mitigation and Maricopa County, with regional cooling and respite partners · since 2024 · Region

A turnaround case for how cooling and respite sites are run, not just where they are. Through 2023, the region's cooling centers were largely daytime-only, and they failed the population at highest risk: heat deaths in…

Annual heat-associated deaths, Maricopa County645 (2023), about half among people experiencing homelessness → 608 (2024), 430 (2025, final county report)deaths per year

Share of 2025 heat deaths among people experiencing homelessness48 percentpercent

City of Phoenix and Maricopa County budgets

Barcelona, Spain

Partial

Barcelona City Council (Ajuntament de Barcelona); school conversions under EU project GBG_AS2C · since 2020 · City

Barcelona designated existing public buildings (libraries, schools, museums, civic centers, parks facilities, and pharmacies) as free climate shelters kept at or below 26 C, with drinking water and accessibility standar…

Climate-shelter sites in the network70 sites (2020) → 368 (2024); over 500 (2026)sites

Residents within a 10-minute walk of a shelter98percent

€4M · Municipal budget; school conversions co-funded by 3.99 million EUR ERDF (EU project GBG_AS2C) · 3 sources

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