Action for Outdoor Environment Adaptation in Seville

Seville is located in southern Spain, where between two and five heatwaves occur annually. This affects particularly the social life of a population which is used to meet and live streets and squares. The city is rising to meet the growing challenge of extreme heat with innovative solutions. These heatwaves, marked by at least three consecutive days of intense temperatures, put considerable pressure on both residents and infrastructure. As the city grapples with this climate reality, it is taking strong measures to adapt to the heat.  

How is the city of Seville fighting heatwaves? 

Seville is working mainly in projects of adaptation to heatwaves. During hot months (from May until the beginning of November) the energy consumption increases because of temperature rise and the loss of stored coolness due to poor insulation of the building stock. Therefore, the city is working on the rehabilitation of the buildings to be more energy efficient. Moreover, efforts has been made on the energy generation side, with the promotion of multi-level governance in the deployment of self-consumption renewable energy and energy communities.  

There are also other types of measures, including  nature based solutions tailored to the local natural ecosystem and water scarcity. These include, shading systems (trees canopy alongside with sail shading) and street cooling (boosting air, cool roofs in bus stations,  use of wind). 

Cartuja Qanat and other key initiatives

Seville is actively addressing the impacts of climate change through innovative urban projects, with a strong focus on heat adaptation and energy transition. One of its most emblematic initiatives is Cartuja Qanat, a pioneering urban transformation project that reimagines the role of streets as social and climate-responsive spaces. It involves the entire city ecosystem — public authorities, private stakeholders, and citizens — in shaping a new model of urban governance. This model aims to progressively transform the appearance and function of the city’s streets over the next 15 years. 

Cartuja Qanat integrates a variety of interventions that act as social catalysts: enhancing universal accessibility, carrying out superficial modifications to reshape existing urban layouts, and recovering ancient microclimatic techniques. The project also promotes the revitalization of local craftsmanship and traditional knowledge, grounding innovation in cultural identity. Its goal is to improve environmental comfort, encourage social interaction, and promote a more sustainable urban development model than conventional city expansion. These redesigned areas function as meeting points, resting spaces, and transitional zones — key to improving urban comfort during extreme heat events. 

In addition to Cartuja Qanat, Seville is involved in several other strategic projects: 

• LifeWaterCool: This project aims to develop and test innovative solutions to manage high temperatures — both indoors and outdoors — while also addressing urban water challenges, such as runoff and drought, in a climate-stressed environment.
• UrbaneW: In collaboration with seven other Spanish cities, it seeks to decarbonise the built environment and promote the integration of renewable energy through self-consumption models and the creation of energy communities. The project is now focused on the rehabilitation of buildings, especially in more underserved areas.

^{Credit: CartujaQanat}

The role of these projects in tackling heatwaves

These projects are focused on the adaptation of climate change and to reduce the impact of  future heat waves. While technological advances in household appliances are already underway, the transformation of buildings themselves is also essential. Solutions like UrbaneW, focused on building renovation, and CartujaQanat, aimed at urban improvement, play a key role in driving a sustainable energy and urban transition. Other solutions such as habit change and managing the thermal comfort are key to tackle heatwaves and for making Seville and other cities livable in the future.  

Stakeholder engagement

For the LifeWaterCool project the city is working with the University of Seville, the public service provider for the Integral Water Cycle in Seville (EMASESA), Efeverde, Council of Seville and Alten.  

In Cartuja Qanat project the partners are: Seville City Council (and its Planning Department), EMASESA, University of Seville (USE), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) - national public authority, PCT Cartuja - managing company of the Science and Technology Park Cartuja and Innovarcill - non-profit foundation specialised in R&D&I for ceramic industries. 

Lastly, for the Urbanew project there are 6 other Spanish cities involved (Zaragoza, Valencia, Vitoria, Madrid, Barcelona and Valladolid) with the collaboration of CIRCE (Center for Research in Energy Resources and Consumption) and CESefor (Centre for Forestry Services and Promotion of the Forest Industry of Castile and León). 

Main challenges in addressing heatwaves

• High payback periods: The investment recovery time is quite long, which poses a challenge for the implementation of energy-efficient solutions.
• Changing habits: One significant problem is the established habit of opening windows, which often undermines the benefits of energy-saving measures such as insulation or controlled ventilation.
• Water issues: During the summer months, the water table drops, creating difficulties in water availability for irrigation. This, combined with the limited water supply capacity, further exacerbates the challenges faced in maintaining green spaces and agriculture.
• Energy generation is limited by existing infrastructure: The capacity to generate energy is constrained by the current infrastructure, which is unable to support more efficient or renewable energy generation without significant upgrades.
• Thermal comfort: this is one of the most important aspects for the citizens as it focuses on the subjective feeling of heat and not the actual temperature decrease.
• Increase of the use of the area developed: for the Cartuja Qanat project in 2020 there was a 50% increase when no events were held and a 430% increase in the use of the space when events were organized. 

Lessons learnt and next steps

• The experience of the Cartuja Qanat project yields valuable lessons. Firstly, it underscores the importance of adaptability in urban initiatives, acknowledging that rigidly defined projects may need adjustments to meet evolving needs. Secondly, perseverance stands out as a driving force, as unwavering commitment to the project's goals enables overcoming challenges. Thirdly, fostering goodwill among all stakeholders emerged as a critical aspect. Collaboration thrived when all parties shared a genuine desire for success, emphasizing the importance of building trust and positive relationships in complex endeavors. In essence, Cartuja Qanat teaches us that urban innovation demands resilience, adaptability, and a united spirit of cooperation to navigate and conquer challenges effectively.
• Playing with the perception of heat: Strategies are also being explored to influence how people feel temperature, not just the actual heat itself — for example, through shade, airflow etc.
• The energy problem goes beyond generation: Energy availability is not only about how much is produced. A major challenge lies in the infrastructure: often, energy exists, but the systems in place cannot support its effective distribution. This is a critical area that requires improvement and does not depend solely on solar or renewable generation. 

Replicability

Many cities share a similar weather as Seville during the summer, specially the south of Spain. The Cartuja Qanat project offers an urban transformation to more climate-responsible areas. Moreover, projects like LifeWaterCool help to face these high temperatures taking into account the water scarcity that Spain faces during the summer due to the increase of demand (agriculture, tourism, high temperatures…). 

On the other hand, besides the cities that are already working in the UrbaneW project, it can be fully replicable to other cities since it focuses on the decarbonization of buildings to achieve more energy efficient cities.  

Sevilla's Refresh

Maximum temperature reached during extreme heat events: 54ºC (city center)

Solutions to address heatwaves:

• Nature-based solutions
• Smart Urban Design
• Good Governance
• Communities
  • Demonstrative public space in the Cartuja Technology Park: a  free access area, where new microclimate systems and their combination are experimented with real operational conditions to collect data and assess the potential for social impact
  • A working methodology has been developed on the web to enable optimal interaction, from a comfort perspective, between designers, citizens, businesses, and other stakeholders involved in the decision-making process.
  • Replicability tools have been established to allow the extension of the project's solutions to other areas of the city or to other cities of interest.  

Expected results with the solutions implemented:  

• Reduction in consumption of households during heatwaves
• Increased energy efficiency of buildings
• Reduction of ambient temperature
• Monitoring of objective data
• Monitoring of usage and social impact  

Covenant Figures 

Signatory to the Covenant of Mayors since: 2009

Emission reduction ambitions:  

• % GHG emissions reductions by 2030:  82% (Net Zero Cities Mission)
• % GHG emissions reductions by 2050: 100%  

Related links 

• Urban Innovative Actions - CartujaQanat
• BBC Article
• The Ancient Method Cooling One of Europe’s Hottest Cities
• Seville climate transformation
• Seville's ancient water tunnel