The heat had cleared Wednesday but it left behind a city newly full of anxieties about how London and other European cities can cope with the rising frequency of such extreme weather events.
“We have prepared a very sophisticated infrastructure system, the railways, the energy systems, all the way to how we design school buildings and hospitals — for very specific climate,” he said, with planning across Britain around a temperature span of around -10°C to 35°C.London Ambulance Service said in a statement that there was a sustained demand for its service, which put the organisation under “extreme pressure”, as a direct result of the heat wave.
At times every engine in service was in use — not a single one was left to respond to a new emergency, a union official said. Homes in northern Europe were largely built to retain heat, not dissipate it, and many are poorly ventilated. In a dense city like London, poor air quality, abundant pavement and a relative absence of greenery all reinforce each other’s effects, said Ms Léan Doody, who leads the integrated cities and planning network for Europe for Arup, a British engineering firm.
But, the statement added that the British national government has “been underprepared for this heat event and the fact that we are already facing the impacts of climate change,” and it said that action was needed now to “tackle the risk of overheating in London”. But critics say it does not go far enough toward addressing the issue with the kind of urgency that is needed. And if greenhouse emissions are not drastically curbed, no amount of altering cities will be enough, Dr Rode said.