NZ cities are getting hotter: 5 things councils can do now to keep us cooler when summer comes

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 23:26:08 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/nz-cities-are-getting-hotter-5-things-councils-can-do-now-to-keep-us-cooler-when-summer-comes-259885>

"Stand on any car park on a sunny day in February and the heat will radiate
through your shoes. At 30°C air temperature, that asphalt hits 50–55°C – hot
enough to cause second-degree burns to skin in seconds.

Right now, in the northern hemisphere summer, 100 million Americans are dealing
with 38°C temperatures. Britain is preparing for hundreds of heat deaths. In
New Zealand, of course, we’re still lighting fires and complaining about the
cold.

But that gives us time to prepare for our own heatwaves. Open-air car parks
that sit empty for 20 hours a day could become cooling infrastructure instead.
Transport routes can become cooling corridors.

Replace asphalt with trees, grass and permeable surfaces, and you can drop
surface temperatures by 12°C. It’s not complicated. It’s not even expensive."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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