Planning to refresh: how integrated spatial planning can build cooler, healthier cities

Have you ever noticed how stepping into the countryside on a hot summer day instantly feels cooler? It’s not just your imagination. According to the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, cities across Europe are experiencing surface temperatures up to 10–15°C higher  than surrounding rural areas during the summer months. This phenomenon, known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, results from heat-retaining materials like concrete and asphalt, densely built environments, limited greenery, and intense human activity. 

The consequences are severe: energy demand for cooling surges, air quality deteriorates, and the most vulnerable populations face life-threatening health risks during prolonged heatwaves. These heat extremes and the consequent UHI phenomenon will persist and, as predicted by climate models, are even expected to worsen in the future. With climate change accelerating, cities must face the reality that extreme heat is becoming a permanent feature of the urban landscape.

To address this question, the Covenant of Mayors has been running the Cities Refresh campaign - an urgent call for local governments to rethink and redesign urban spaces to better cope with rising temperatures. The campaign aims to inspire and empower cities to “refresh” their environments by cooling down public spaces, protecting communities, and building long-term resilience into the urban fabric.

The power of integrated spatial planning

In response to this growing threat, cities need more than temporary fixes: they require a systemic and forward-looking approach.

Integrated spatial planning offers exactly that: a way to coordinate climate resilience, land use, mobility, and equity under one coherent strategy. It enables urban areas to design spaces that mitigate heat naturally, while also enhancing social and environmental wellbeing. 

This includes creating wind corridors to improve air flow, building green infrastructure like parks, green roofs, and tree-lined streets, using cool construction materials, and ensuring public spaces offer shade and water. It also promotes compact, transit-oriented development that reduces car dependency, cutting both emissions and heat generated by traffic.

But beyond physical solutions, integrated planning supports the use of science-based policies that are sensitive to spatial dimensions, while recognising that different parts of a city experience heat differently and therefore require targeted responses. Mapping heat risks and combining them with social vulnerability data ensures that efforts are both effective and equitable.

Find out more about urban design solutions to extreme heat in our Refresh Kit.

Planning for the future: making resilience the new normal

Across Europe, a growing number of cities are beginning to embed this integrated mindset into their urban strategies. Projects like LIFE IN-PLAN are equipping local and regional authorities with the tools to turn climate goals into tangible, spatially grounded policies. This means planning decisions treat heat resilience as a core principle that shapes zoning laws, building codes, infrastructure investments, and public space design. 

Integrated spatial planning enables cities to go beyond isolated green initiatives (i.e. a standalone urban garden project). Instead, it creates a resilient urban ecosystem where cooling, inclusion, and sustainability reinforce one another. 

As climate models make clear, the challenge of extreme heat isn’t going away. But by acting now, and planning with an integration approach, our cities can stay not only cooler but also healthier and better prepared for future hotter days.

This article is a contribution from the project LIFE IN-PLAN. It was written by Irene Biancani, Project Officer at FEDARENE, the European Federation of Agencies and Regions for Energy and Environment