PROJECT STORY
The challenge
The municipality of The Hague intends to better inform and protect vulnerable groups during periods of prolonged extreme heat. This is why the city council decided to develop a local heat plan.
Vulnerable groups better protected during prolonged heatwaves
Local heat plan for the municipality of The Hague
The solution
Arcadis developed the heat plan in consultation with 25 relevant organizations and in parallel developed a communication strategy for 75+ seniors and a cooled areas pilot.
The impact
Thanks to the local heat plan, seniors, the chronically ill and homeless people can count on information and structured help when the thermometer starts rising fast.
25
cooperating organizations
The challenge
Due to rising temperatures caused by climate change, the Netherlands has had a National Heat Plan since 2007. During periods of persistent heat the Netherlands National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection (RIVM) warns the country’s 25 Municipal Health Service units (GGDs) that in turn inform the affected local authorities. This is because ultimately it is the responsibility of all municipalities to protect, monitor and promote the health of their residents. In The Hague, the social domain wanted to go beyond this and decided to develop a local heat plan designed to implement the applicable measures at all levels of the municipality. This is a major undertaking, which is why Arcadis was called on to provide assistance. To structure the heat plan, our project manager formulated a team consisting of a public administration expert and a specialist with substantive knowledge about heat in the city. This team started working on the task assigned by the municipality of The Hague: formulate agreements with organizations about their method of operation and communications with the population in the event of a heatwave.
The solution
To develop the heat plan we worked together with 25 organizations in The Hague with access to people experiencing health risks in the event of heat, but who are beyond the reach of long-term healthcare or healthcare institutions. Primarily these are seniors living on their own, the chronically ill and homeless people. Following a survey of existing initiatives and a webinar with all involved parties we got down to work and were able to present the final plan in August 2021. The plan’s spearheads consist of limiting and dealing with heat-related health and welfare problems, promoting self-sufficiency and group cooperation, and the exchange of knowledge and experience.
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Logistics and safety
The development of the heat plan went hand-in-hand with an elaborate information campaign using various means, such as direct mailings, flyers, posters, drinking bottles and social media content. The objective was to use low-threshold means to make seniors aware of the health risks associated with prolonged heatwaves, but also to point out to their immediate circle that older family members may need additional attention. The ‘cooled locations’ pilot also formed part of the heat plan, although this will later continue as an independent project. For this pilot we actively started looking for ‘cool’ locations/buildings that can operate as ‘cooling centers’ during a heatwave. This includes places of worship, libraries and government buildings. Of course this would require the necessary arrangements to be made, for example in terms of logistics and safety. The pilot project produced valuable insights and identified areas requiring attention.
Flawless rollout
Naturally, the municipality of The Hague is not going to take out the operating script only once temperatures start rising. Indeed, the plan’s smooth implementation depends on making effective preparations, including timely consultation among all parties and the identification and distribution of all required materials. Only once this structure is effectively in place can the rollout be carried out flawlessly. The evaluation will follow in the autumn, so that the heat plan will require attention throughout virtually the entire year.
The plan forms the basis for crisis management. All involved parties now exactly know what to do when a heatwave presents itself.
The impact
Thanks to these clear arrangements, the local GGD, Red Cross and various social, welfare and healthcare organizations can intervene in structured ways when the National Heat Plan is activated. The heat plan provides the municipality of The Hague with a solid basis for efficiently controlling health-related heat effects. This enables authorities to quickly offer effective assistance to people who are most affected by the increasingly more frequently occurring heatwaves.
