Athens Metropolitan Area is facing escalating challenges and risks related to urban heat and its impact on public health. Last December, the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) and New Metropolitan Attica S.A. (NMA) launched a Living Lab to identify transformative solutions for urban heat resilience and public health and build on climate adaptation and resilience work taking place in Metropolitan Athens and the Region of Attica.
Metropolitan Athens is home to nearly half of the population of Greece and hosts several millions of visitors each year. It is known and loved for its Mediterranean climate of hot, dry summers and mild winters, but Athens and the wider region experience increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves. Athens experienced the longest heatwave in its history last July 2024 that lasted for 17 consecutive days. The city is also experiencing a notable rise in the number of tropical days and nights.
Described by the World Health Organization as a “silent killer”, hot weather and especially prolonged heat or extreme heat can cause heat illness or death when a person’s body is unable to cool itself. Heat can harm anyone, especially those without mechanical cooling like air conditioning. Some people are at higher risk, including adults aged 60 years or older, people with some pre-existing health conditions, people with mental illness, limited mobility or other disabilities, people experiencing homelessness, infants, children and pregnant women, workers in hot indoor and outdoor environments, people who are socially isolated or live alone, and people in older buildings without adequate cooling.
Heatwave-related deaths have increased by 30 percent in Europe over the last 20 years, according to a recent joint report from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization and Copernicus C3S and Europe is heating up faster than any other continent, with Southern Europe a hotspot for heat, wildfires and water scarcity, according to the first climate risk assessment of the European Environment Agency (EEA, 2024). At the same time, deaths, illnesses and work-related injuries caused by heat are widely under-recorded in Greece. This creates a challenge for understanding the risk, raising public awareness and developing data-based policies. Athens is at a critical juncture where effective strategies must be developed to mitigate these risks and to help people and the built environment adapt.

The workshop Urban Heat Resilience: Pioneering Solutions for a Cooler Athens which took place on the 5th of December, in Harokopeio University, brought together people working with children, youth, families and schools, urbanists working with local communities, representatives of local governments and regional development agencies working on sustainable development, a national climate adaptation policymaker and researchers in urban resilience, demography economics and disaster planning. Participants discussed and mapped out key risks, underlying risk drivers, existing and potential solutions for heat health risk adaptation and mitigation, and factors that create barriers or enable solutions. Many more people shared insights, informational resources and data before and since the workshop as part of this Living Lab.
In exploring heat resilience solutions to address the health risks of heatwaves, participants focused on identifying Nature-based Solutions (NbS) that are needed or have been implemented in the Athens metro area to create cooler spaces in neighborhoods and help address the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. The Athenian UHI effect currently exhibits up to 10°C difference between the center of the city and its suburbs. As temperatures, frequency and duration of heat waves increase, and the UHI effect further intensifies them in the city centers, heat health risk will continue to increase. Examples of NbS in Athens that can help mitigate the UHI effect include the restoration and preservation of the National Garden of Athens, Pedion Areos; the Diomidous Botanical Garden; tree planting and community gardens throughout the city; and the Hadrian Aqueduct Cooling District.
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are actions that protect, restore or sustainably manage nature or modified land and water ecosystems to address societal challenges and provide benefits for human well-being, ecosystem services, infrastructure and biodiversity. NbS in cities may include urban forests and parks, green corridors, vertical and rooftop greening, river and streams renaturation and more.
The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is caused by urbanization and replacement of natural materials by artificial ones. Urban development factors involved in this dynamic include buildings and materials like asphalt and concrete trapping heat and releasing it at night, keeping temperatures elevated; building density and the layout of buildings and streets altering air ventilation patterns; insufficient greenery, shade and water features reducing an area’s cooling capacity; and vehicles, traffic, air conditioning and industrial activities emitting heat and pollution. UHI effect peaks at city centers with dense urban fabric where most of the population lives.

During the workshop, participants collaborated to map out the landscape of interconnected risks, risk drivers, barriers and solutions for adaptation and mitigation using the PESTLE framework. This analytical tool guides users to examine the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental factors that affect the implementation of innovative pathways and solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation. They reviewed and validated existing heat adaptation and mitigation measures, identified persistent or emerging challenges and proposed additional solutions. Using a GeoDesign approach and interactive Maptionnaire platform for spatial mapping and surveys, participants also mapped out the opportunity spaces for NbS and shared their perspectives on the potential benefits of NbS in specific areas throughout Athens.
The workshop included a session introducing the concept of a Digital Twin for Heat Health Risk (DT-HEAT) currently being developed by SENSE-NOA research team at NOA (www.sense-noa.gr). DT-HEAT addresses the escalating heat challenges faced by Athens and will be used as mortality estimator for short- and long-term planning.
This was the first of three workshops that will take place as part of the Living Lab for the metropolitan Athens area, which is one of the 8 case study areas of the CARMINE project. The next workshop will take place in 2025.
The Athens Case Study Area aims to produce a range of impactful results based on science and diverse stakeholder engagement that will enhance the city’s resilience to extreme heat and contribute valuable insights for urban climate adaptation strategies.






The National Observatory of Athens (NOA) is a leading Greek Research Centre focused on advancing Space Sciences and their practical applications, with a proven track record of impactful contributions. NOA is participating to CARMINE works with two Institutes: the Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications & Remote Sensing (IAASARS) and the Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development (IERSD).
“New Metropolitan Attica S.A.” (NMA) as a Regional Development Organization of Attica operates with the purpose of contributing to the planning and actualization of development initiatives and projects which support the wider developmental targets and priorities of the Region of Attica. Major reference points for the Organization are the enhancement of social cohesion and the improvement of the quality of life both in and beyond Attica.
RELEVANT RESOURCES
Dikaios G, Vlachakis S, Kerentzi P, Tsoutsi V and Terezaki M, 2024, Climate Landscape Analysis for Children in Greece, UNICEF & ELIAMEP, Link.
European Environment Agency March 2024 report European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA), link.
European Environment Agency (EEA) April 2024 report Urban adaptation in Europe, link.
European State of the Climate 2023 (April 2024).
Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO), link.
Hadrian Aqueduct Cooling District: Heat Risk Reduction Guidelines (2023), link.
Flouris, A., Azzi, M., Graczyk, H., Nafradi, B., and Scott, N., eds. 2024. Heat at Work: Implications for Safety and Health. A Global Review of the Science, Policy and Practice. (2024) ILO.
Keramitsoglou I., Sismanidis P., Analitis A., Butler T., Founda D., Giannakopoulos C., Giannatou E., Karali A., Katsouyanni K., Kendrovski V., Lemesios G., Myrivili E., Ordonez D, Varotsos K.V., Vlastou G., and C.T.Kiranoudis. (2017). Urban Thermal Risk Reduction: Developing and Implementing Spatially Explicit Services for Resilient Cities. Sustainable Cities and Society, 34, 56-68., link.
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