A thermosurvey of older adults’ experiences, perspectives and adaptation to urban heat and climate change

• Main Authors: Jancewicz, Barbara, Wrotek, Małgorzata
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Repozytorium Danych Społecznych 2024
• Subjects: Social Sciences; heat; urban heat; heatwaves; climate change; climate change views; climate adaptation; older adults; elderly population; heat vulnerability; health; self-rated health; health status; survey; interdisciplinary research; thermal comfort; temperature; indoor temperature; outdoor temperature; heat stress; heat exposure; hot weather; perception of heat; heat embodiment; heat experience; heat-coping strategies; UHI effect; 65+; Madrid; Warsaw; districts; heat related illness; heat related morbidity; ADL; IADL; socioeconomic status; heat stroke; Norway; Iceland
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.18150/JZZ7NR

The survey study aimed to understand older adults’ everyday experiences of urban heat to explore climate change as both an environmental and social phenomenon. Climate change leads to increased temperatures, which are further exacerbated in cities by the Urban Heat Island effect. Heat stress can severely affect people’s health, and due to physiological as well as socio-economic structural factors, since some groups are more vulnerable than others. Evidence suggests that adults over the age of 65 are particularly susceptible to rising temperatures. The study juxtaposes results from two European cities, one with little heatwave experiences: Warsaw, and one where summer heat is the historical norm: Madrid. Thus the survey focused on studying the experiences of urban heat among elderly populations in Warsaw and Madrid. The survey is a part of the Embodying Climate Change project (www.emclic.com) funded by the EEA Grants (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway grants). The questionnaire was designed around the project’s main research objects: heat, embodiment, adaptation, vulnerability and climate change. During face-to-face computer assisted interviews, respondents talked about their health and daily living, socioeconomic situation, social relationships, perceptions of climate change as well as experiences of and strategies to deal with heat. The survey also includes questions about respondents’ subjective experiences of thermal comfort (in line with the PN-EN ISO 10551 scale) as well as temperature and humidity measurements. Including thermo-hygrometers’ measurements into each interview morphs our study from a traditional survey into a thermosurvey. The survey was conducted in the summer of 2022 on a quota sample of 2111 older adults (aged 65+) living in Madrid (1061) and Warsaw (1050). The quotas were based on respondent’s age and sex, and the dataset contains weights to provide estimates in line with these characteristics of Madrid’s and Warsaw’s populations of older adults. We hope that sharing the research data will ...