Evaluating Heatwave Risks in Barcelona: A Quantitative MULTICLIMACT Method and Spatial CLIMRES Strategy
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Heatwaves pose a significant and escalating threat to urban populations, especially in Mediterranean cities such as Barcelona. Risk and resilience assessments provide valuable support for informed decision-making and climate adaptation planning, as demonstrated in EU-funded projects including MULTICLIMACT (GA n. 101123538) and CLIMRES (GA n. 101147777). Although these projects employ different methodologies, they share the common objective of enhancing climate adaptation through the development of tailored tools that address stakeholder needs and support resilience-oriented planning within the built environment. This paper examines how quantitative risk assessment and spatial vulnerability analysis can be integrated to provide actionable knowledge for climate adaptation and policy-making. Focusing on Barcelona as a case study, the research introduces a quantitative MULTICLIMACT method for hazard and vulnerability assessment, complemented by the spatially explicit CLIMRES strategy. By leveraging hazard and fragility curves, the study quantifies heatwave risks at city and district levels. The quantitative outputs generated through MULTICLIMACT are further complemented by the CLIMRES spatial assessment, which identfies vulnerability hotspots and supports the prioritisation of adaptation measures at the local scale. The findings demonstrate the value of integrated tools for supporting heatwave adaptation planning.
Institution: National Technical University of Athens
Language: English
Topic: Urban Heat Island Mitigation
Subfield: Environmental Engineering
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7204172010