Everybody Cool Down

Abstract

Urban heat has become an increasingly severe global challenge, bringing deteriorating thermal environments and growing heat stress for urban residents. While governments worldwide are attempting to adapt, many measures have been criticised as maladaptations — producing unintended consequences or exacerbating social inequity. Nanchang, widely recognised as one of China's "furnace cities", has seen extensive planning and research at macro and meso scales, yet effective local-scale solutions remain limited. This project addresses the inequities that emerge in Nanchang's heat adaptation process.

Drawing on the Crichton Risk Triangle framework, the research first maps heat exposure and vulnerability distribution, systemic inequity is also examined in current heat risk management. To translate these findings into actionable strategies, a heat adaptive pattern language is developed through literature review, providing residents with a structured set of locally grounded design tools. A two-part co-design workshop then engages residents directly — the first part surfaces their lived experiences, knowledge gaps, and concerns, which inform a refinement of the pattern language; the second invites residents to apply these patterns in producing neighbourhood design proposals. Drawing on specialist expertise, residents' ideas are filtered and reorganised into a consolidated intervention proposal. Thermal performance is tested through ENVI-met simulation, and results feed back into further refinement of the patterns. Finally, a feasibility-effectiveness matrix is produced as a practical recommendation tool for government and community committees.

Through this iterative process of spatial analysis, participatory design, and simulation, the project develops a proposal for locally grounded strategies that contribute to more equitable heat adaptation in Nanchang.