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Results of the regional bioclimatic study presented

On Tuesday 22nd October, Claude Meisch, Minister of Housing and Regional Planning, Christian Weis, President of the PRO-SUD intermunicipal syndicate and Mayor of Esch-sur-Alzette, and Dr. Jürgen Junk, scientist from the Environmental Research and Innovation Department of the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), presented the results of the study ” Stadtklimaanalyse für die Region PRO-SUD ” (Urban Climate Analysis for the PRO-SUD Region).

Conducted by GEO-NET from Hanover and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), this urban bioclimate analysis of the eleven municipalities in the PRO-SUD intermunicipal syndicate provides an overview of urban heat island temperatures, highlights the local impacts of climate change and suggests adaptation strategies to minimise the impact on the population.

© Ministère du Logement et de l’Aménagement du Territoire / Minett UNESCO Biosphere

Cities, especially densely built-up city centres, will be increasingly affected by heat waves due to climate change. These urban heat episodes occur during the summer months due to low air mass exchange and high surface impermeability in city centres, resulting in insufficient night-time cooling of built areas.

The bioclimatic study carried out in 2023/24 identified urban heat islands, cold air generation areas and cold air flows in the region at a 5x5m grid scale. The analysis covers the current situation and provides projections for the period 2031-2060 based on the IPCC RCP4.5 scenario. In addition, the study provides concrete action recommendations for urban planning to mitigate the progressive impacts of climate change on the towns and villages of the Minett UNESCO Biosphere.

A study helping our region to become more resilient

During the presentation, Claude Meisch stressed that “preparing for territorial resilience is one of the guiding principles of the Master Plan for Spatial Planning, and this study allows us to anticipate, react and adapt in the best possible way in order to maintain and improve the quality of life in the face of the effects of climate change. The study confirms that the artificialisation of the surface significantly increases the thermal disturbance in our agglomerations. The fact that the study proposes a wide range of concrete measures to improve the thermal situation is an additional tool for implementing the approach adopted in the Master Plan”.

For Christian Weis, the study “provides concrete action paths to make the urban centres of the 11 member municipalities of the Minett UNESCO Biosphere more resilient to climate challenges, as well as important information to preserve or even improve the cold air intake areas and corridors through which this natural cooling can flow into urban areas”.

Jürgen Junk, from the Department of Environmental Research and Innovation at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), stressed that “the catalogues of measures developed in the study are now available to urban planners, both public and private, to implement urban adaptations such as the creation of green and water spaces, as well as fresh air corridors. These developments aim to refresh urban spaces and mitigate the expected effects of climate change in the towns and cities of the PRO-SUD region”.

The full study

The full study (in German) is available here in PDF format. 

A press kit summarising the results of the study (in French) can be downloaded here.

Detailed maps of the current situation (heat islands, cold air production areas and cold air flow paths) in the 11 municipalities of the Minett UNESCO Biosphere are freely available at www.geoportail.lu.

Articles in the press

Du végétal et de l’eau pour freiner la chaleur dans les villes – L’Essentiel.lu (22.10.2024)

Hëtztwellen an Nidderschléi wäerten zouhuelen, urbanistesch Géigemesuren néideg – RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg (Report 22.10.2024)

L’urgence d’éviter les 46°C dans nos centres-villes – Le Quotidien (Newspaper’s cover story 23.10.2024)

Un mur végétal de 100m2 va fleurir au coeur de Differdange – L’Essentiel (Newspaper article 23.10.2024)

Pro-Sud-Gemeinden engagieren sich – der Wert lokaler Aktionen für Klimaschutz – Tageblatt (Newspaper article 23.10.2024)

Faktenbasierte Klimapolitik – Zeitung vum Lëtzebuerger Vollek (Newspaper articlel 23.10.2024)

Thermesche Stress an de Südgemengen – Radio 100,7 (Report 28.10.2024)