European cities are having to face the dilemma of conserving their heritage and adapting to the effects of a warming climate.

This week was London Climate Action Week, an international event that brought researchers, leaders and activists to the British capital to discuss climate change. As delegates gathered in the city, they experienced the nature of the problem first-hand: temperatures in parts of the United Kingdom topped 36 degrees Celsius. London sweltered. The city clearly struggled to cope, as exemplified by an event scheduled to discuss extreme heat being cancelled because of the extreme heat.

A heatwave has engulfed Europe. The physical phenomenon is well understood. The jet stream dips to the west, allowing hot air from North Africa to make its way over the continent. An area of high pressure then strengthens, staying in place for days, creating a dome that traps hot air and suppresses cloud formation. Temperatures increase. Europe is turning into an oven. The consistently broken records are a strong indication that the long-term warming of Europe – the continent that is warming the fastest – is having an effect.

Such weather patterns have happened before, of course, but they are now becoming deeper and more frequent. They are no longer occasional, extreme events but a new normality. They are also revealing the structural inadequacy of Europe’s built environment: not insulated enough to keep the heat out, nor uniformly air-conditioned enough to keep it cool. This problem is particularly evident in places like Paris or London, at the centre of this latest extreme heat, once notorious for their long winters and grey skies rather than for their heatwaves. Historically, the local climate allowed developers to opt for designs that ignored the challenges of warm, sunny climates – a neglect that now risks becoming........

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