Over the past few weeks there have been several heat waves that have hit the Catalan coast. High temperatures that, as in recent years, have caused some residents of the Collblanc neighbourhood of the Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), precisely one of the most densely populated areas in the entire European Union and one of the most vulnerable to the heat of the Barcelona metropolitan area, as recent studies by the Metropolitan Institute have shown.
In this context, the coordinator of AMPAs Endavant, from Collblanc-la Torrrasa, has once again asked the administration for more shaded areas in the squares and children’s parks. But not only that: the neighbors complain that their only climate shelter, Torre Barena, is closed for the entire month of August. Precisely, they say, when they need it most. On this issue, municipal sources respond that all this is because “employees have to take leave because on September 2, activity returns to the Municipal Center for Multimedia Creation, Innovation and Social Transformation”.
Holidays are affected
It is not an isolated case. In the case of neighbouring Barcelona, for example, of the 368 climate shelters listed on the municipality’s website, 121 will close in August. In other words, one in three will not be able to work, either to rest for a few days or to take a break that lasts the entire month. This proportion is not so prominent in L’Hospitalet, where there are a total of 12 climate shelters integrated into the capital’s network, two of which will close in August.
María Camila Jiménez, a member of the coordinator, insists that, like last year, they have a “serious problem with climate shelters” in the north of the Hospitalet. “The children can’t even take advantage of the parks. Only the first hour; then it gets very hot,” affirms this resident of the Colblanc neighborhood, who confirms that they have to leave the neighborhood to find parks and cooler areas and criticizes that “the city council at the hospital tells them that ‘there are no resources’.”
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The council responds that it is working to try to increase the shade in children’s play areas “in all the city’s neighborhoods.” Municipal sources say that on May 30 of this year, the local government council approved the 2024-25 shade plan for children’s play areas, which aims to “improve the thermal comfort of all these spaces.” “The project is currently being prepared and, once completed, will have to be put out to tender. The measures are expected to be launched in 2025, and will start with children’s play areas that have been identified as priorities, i.e. those with less than 40% shade, rubber pavements, and intensive use by citizens.”
Another frequent complaint among Colblanc residents when temperatures rise is also related to the lack of shade at bus stops.
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