The Be Ready (UrBan Heat Islands - UHI - Resilience, PrepAreDness and mitigation Strategy) project deals with the climate change capabilities of the Danube region. The Municipality of Hévíz City participates as a consortium partner in the project, where a total of 19 partners from 12 countries joined together to jointly develop solutions to mitigate the effects of heat islands in the urban environment.
Representatives of the following organizations participated in the workshop:
Hévíz City Municipality
Hévíz St. Andrew's Rheumatology Hospital and Spa
Balaton Uplands National Park
Hévíz Entrepreneurs' Association
Hévíz Room Publishers' Association
Liget Hévíz Ltd.
Hévíz Television Ltd.
Bonvital Gastro & Wellness Hotel
Noppa Ltd.
Kisalföldi Enterprise Development Foundation
Hévíz Palace Hotel
BOKU University, Vienna
What is the project about in brief?
The partner cities, including Hévíz, develop action plans to combat urban 'hotspots' using data analysis, urban planning solutions, regulations and infrastructure measures.
As the average summer temperature rises, urban heat islands (UHI) are increasingly forming, which pose a health risk to residents and visitors, especially among the oldest and youngest, as well as sick people. The unprecedented heat waves experienced recently show that there is an urgent need to strengthen the preparedness and adaptability of society and to consciously (re)shape our living spaces in defense against the heat.
The aim of the project in Hévíz is to assess the city's hottest spots and develop solutions for their effective cooling or elimination. Efforts must be made to ensure that, within the framework of the 2-year program, there are immediate solutions, unique model projects and long-term strategic proposals at the local level as well.
The BeReady project consists of 5 phases, of which the III. stage preparation is underway in Hévíz. In Phase I, the research institutes assessed the general characteristics of the heat islands and are working on methods to map them. The II. the partners got to know the methods. The current III. with the involvement of the localities, locally affected partners, professional organizations, experts and the population, they will assess their own heat islands based on the methodology and their risk in order to be able to formulate proposals to prevent the formation of heat islands or eliminate existing ones. This will be followed by IV. phase, in which specific tasks and pilot projects must be implemented to reduce heat islands, the results of which will have to be reported and the results published in phase V.
Experts from public institutions, scientific institutions, civil organizations and businesses came together to learn about the risks of urban heat islands and to actively participate in the further activities of the project, the elimination of heat islands on the 6th November 2024 for a local workshop. The crowd of 18 guests got familar with the whole project, and started to learn the about the metodology which will used to measure and collect the local datas to provide the UHI vulnerability of Hévíz.
