Are Barcelona climate shelters accessible to heat-vulnerable populations?

Climate shelters are public spaces intended to provide protection during extreme temperatures. Barcelona has over 360 summer climate shelters, located in places like schools, libraries, and parks. Municipal data shows that 98% of residents have a shelter within a 10-minute walk.
 

But do high-risk groups have adequate access to shelters during heatwaves?

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Who are the vulnerable population groups and where are they?

For each square in the map, we coloured the estimated vulnerable population living there1, from less than 20, between 20 and 60, and more than 60 vulnerable residents.

[1]: The vulnerable population is divided into three quantiles, with each quantile representing approximately 33% of the population. Each group is depicted by a different color.

According to the Lancet Countdown Europe report (2024), during extreme weather events, children and the elderly are considered to be among the most vulnerable populations. We mapped the distribution of these groups in Barcelona.

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Are vulnerable populations

populations covered by the climate shelters?

Mapping climate shelters accessibility for vulnerable populations in Barcelona

Using official data from the Barcelona City Council, we identified the locations of climate shelters, which are marked by dots on the map, and calculated the coverage areas.

We estimate that more than 90% of the most vulnerable residents1 can reach a climate shelter within a 10-minute walk2. Out of the 373,000 vulnerable residents with access to climate shelters, 321,000 are older adults, and 52,900 are children under the age of four.

Conversely, among the 35,000 vulnerable residents for which the nearest climate shelter is within more than a 10-minute walk, 30,100 are adults over 65, and 4,960 are young children.

[2]: The 10-minute walk coverage considers an average speed of 3.28 Km/h for older adults and children.

[1]: Children under four and adults over 65 years old.

Click on the points to open climate shelters information.

At a first glance, climate shelter coverage for vulnerable population in Barcelona is good.

Let's dig into the data to identify how to improve accessibility.

How does climate shelters accessibility vary by district?

We compared the service coverage across Barcelona's districts.

 

All districts cover more than 75% of their vulnerable residents.

 

In particular, in Ciutat Vella, 100% of the most vulnerable population have a climate shelter within a 10-minute walk.

How is climate shelters coverage affected in August?

In August, climate shelter coverage continues to support 75% of vulnerable residents.

Click the play button in the panel to see how coverage varies throughout the summer months.

How can climate shelters accessibility improve?

Despite some existing gaps, Barcelona's climate shelter coverage at 10-minute walking distance is adequate. The City Council aims to improve this by ensuring that all residents can reach a shelter within 5 minutes by 2030. The target demonstrates a commitment to equitable access, although addressing current gaps and enhancing overall accessibility remains a challenging task.
 

To ensure a good service of the network, challenges such as extending operating hours, diversifying shelter types, and managing capacity must also be addressed.
 

As seen on the analysis, understanding people's needs is key. In this case, how are the most vulnerable people distributed? Thanks to the collaboration between Barcelona City Council and vCity, we are analysing socio-demographic data to understand it.


Through vCity’s development of urban digital twins, we aim to help urban policy-making and model human-centric solutions for planning challenges.

Explore the vCity webpage by scrolling on the side panel

Now it's your turn!

Scroll to the next slide and play with the map

Try it yourself!

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1. Use this side menu to filter for different categories...

2. ...and this side menu to filter for opening days.

3. Hover on each coverage area to see the estimated vulnerable population within a 10-minute walk of the corresponding climate shelter.

Do you want to continue the analysis?

Go to the full screen interactive map

This project is part of the Proximity Living Lab, within the framework of the vCity project.

BSC Data Analytics and Visualization Group:

For more information about this study, refer to the paper.

In collaboration with:

  • Serena Mombelli, Urban Planning Researcher, Mobility, transport and territory Research Group (GEMOTT, Autonomous University of Barcelona)

Special thanks to:

The UNICO-GDU-HPC project, part of the UNICO I+D Cloud programme, has the Ministry for Digital Transformation and of Civil Service and the EU-Next Generation EU as financing entities, within the framework of the PRTR and the MRR.