As cities across Europe broiled under repeated heatwaves and devastating wildfires this summer, it is now blatantly obvious that they need climate-smart green spaces to remain liveable as temperatures rise.

Europe is heating at more than twice the global average. London has seen the number of days where temperatures breach 30C more than quadruple in decades, while heatwaves across England and Wales have been responsible for almost 3,000 deaths to date this year.

Irish cities are not spared. New research has shown parts of Cork reached up to 15C hotter than others during a heatwave, prompting calls from the Climate and Health Alliance, incorporating experts from UCC, Cork Healthy Cities, the Royal College of Surgeons, the Irish Heart Foundation and the HSE, for the development of heat-health action plans.

A key aspect of that plan must include trees. Cities around the world are planting more to cope with the accelerating threat of urban heat. However, in Nature and Cities, Nurturing Cities (2026), the authors describe how trees alone are not enough. In some cases, the wrong kind of greening can even make streets feel less comfortable on a hot day.

Academics described how field measurements from Melbourne, Munich and Hong Kong were used to test how different kinds of urban planting changed the heat people experience outdoors. The results showed layered vegetation – where trees are combined with shrubs and ground cover – often cooled cities more effectively than trees alone.

As cities spend billions adapting to extreme heat, planting design may matter as much........

© Evening Echo