A thermosurvey of older adults’ experiences, perspectives and adaptation to urban heat and climate change

The survey study aimed to understand older adults’ everyday experiences of urban heat to explore climate change as both an environmental and social phenomenon. Climate change leads to increased temperatures, which are further exacerbated in cities by the Urban Heat Island effect. Heat stress can severely affect people’s health, and due to physiological as well as socio-economic structural factors, since some groups are more vulnerable than others. Evidence suggests that adults over the age of 65 are particularly susceptible to rising temperatures. The study juxtaposes results from two European cities, one with little heatwave experiences: Warsaw, and one where summer heat is the historical norm: Madrid. Thus the survey focused on studying the experiences of urban heat among elderly populations in Warsaw and Madrid. The survey is a part of the Embodying Climate Change project (www.emclic.com) funded by the EEA Grants (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway grants). The questionnaire was designed around the project’s main research objects: heat, embodiment, adaptation, vulnerability and climate change. During face-to-face computer assisted interviews, respondents talked about their health and daily living, socioeconomic situation, social relationships, perceptions of climate change as well as experiences of and strategies to deal with heat. The survey also includes questions about respondents’ subjective experiences of thermal comfort (in line with the PN-EN ISO 10551 scale) as well as temperature and humidity measurements. Including thermo-hygrometers’ measurements into each interview morphs our study from a traditional survey into a thermosurvey. The survey was conducted in the summer of 2022 on a quota sample of 2111 older adults (aged 65+) living in Madrid (1061) and Warsaw (1050). The quotas were based on respondent’s age and sex, and the dataset contains weights to provide estimates in line with these characteristics of Madrid’s and Warsaw’s populations of older adults.We hope that sharing the research data will enable scholars to better understand how heatwaves impact the functioning of elderly individuals in urban areas and to develop strategies for coping with heat.

本调研旨在探究老年群体的城市日常热暴露体验，以此剖析气候变化兼具环境与社会双重属性的内涵。气候变化导致全球气温升高，而城市热岛效应（Urban Heat Island）会进一步加剧城市区域的热负荷。热应激会严重损害人体健康，受生理与社会经济结构因素影响，不同群体的热脆弱性存在显著差异。已有研究表明，65岁以上老年群体对气温升高尤为敏感。本研究对比了两座欧洲城市的调研结果：一座是极少遭遇热浪的华沙（Warsaw），另一座是夏季高温为历史常态的马德里（Madrid）。因此本次调研聚焦华沙与马德里两地老年群体的城市热环境体验。本调研属于“气候变化具身化（Embodying Climate Change）”项目（网址：www.emclic.com）的一部分，该项目由欧洲经济区拨款（EEA Grants，冰岛、列支敦士登与挪威拨款计划）资助。问卷围绕项目核心研究主题设计，涵盖热环境、具身体验、适应策略、脆弱性与气候变化等维度。在计算机辅助面对面访谈中，受访者分享了自身健康与日常生活状况、社会经济处境、社会关系网络、对气候变化的认知，以及热环境体验与应对策略等内容。调研还包含受访者热舒适（thermal comfort）主观体验相关问题（符合PN-EN ISO 10551标准量表），并同步采集温湿度数据。在每一场访谈中同步采集温湿度计（thermo-hygrometers）数据，使本研究从传统调研升级为热环境调研（thermosurvey）。本次调研于2022年夏季开展，共招募2111名65岁及以上老年受访者作为配额样本（quota sample），其中马德里1061人，华沙1050人。配额抽样依据受访者年龄与性别设定，本数据集包含加权系数（weights），以确保调研结果能够匹配马德里与华沙两地老年人口的年龄、性别结构特征。我们期望通过公开本研究数据，助力学界更深入地理解热浪对城市老年群体日常运作的影响，并开发针对性的高温应对策略。