Contents

Heat Vulnerability, Everyday Thermal Exposure, and Local Adaptation Planning in a Mediterranean Mass-Tourism Municipality

Author(s): Andrew Saint1, Naveed Ahmad2
1Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge. He was died on 16 July 2025
2Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Andrew Saint
Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge. He was died on 16 July 2025
Naveed Ahmad
Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Abstract

Extreme heat in Mediterranean tourist municipalities is not only a climatic problem but also a planning and management problem, because the spaces that sustain tourism and those that sustain everyday resident life are not governed in the same way. This article examines how economically vulnerable households experience heat in Lloret de Mar, Catalonia, and uses that evidence to clarify priorities for local adaptation planning. The study is framed as an exploratory mixed-method case study combining semi-structured interviews and participatory mapping with 28 households (77 household members) recruited through the Food Distribution Center of C`aritas Lloret de Mar. Triangulation across closed-response items, open-ended accounts, and mapped locations shows a pronounced gap between the tourist image of summer comfort and the lived thermal reality of low-income residents. More than half of participants reported summer thermal discomfort at home, half reported difficulty bearing cooling-related utility costs, and electricity bills emerged as the most problematic household expense. Coping depended primarily on low-cost domestic strategies, especially fans, cross-ventilation, and persianas, while air conditioning was present in some homes but rarely used because operating costs were prohibitive. Participatory mapping revealed concentrated exposure along main roads, service routes, and dense central areas, alongside an emergent reliance on informal cool refuges such as the public library. The article argues that local adaptation planning should move from generic heat messaging toward place-based, socially targeted interventions: formal climate shelters, shaded everyday mobility corridors, and publicly managed cool commons, while recognizing that the findings are intentionally case-specific rather than statistically generalizable.

Copyright © 2025 Andrew Saint, Naveed Ahmad. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cite this Article

APA
Saint, A., Ahmad, N. (2025). Heat Vulnerability, Everyday Thermal Exposure, and Local Adaptation Planning in a Mediterranean Mass-Tourism Municipality. Journal of Management and Planning Research, 2(1), 110-121. https://doi.org/10.66033/jmpr2025-210
MLA
Saint, Andrew, and Naveed Ahmad. "Heat Vulnerability, Everyday Thermal Exposure, and Local Adaptation Planning in a Mediterranean Mass-Tourism Municipality." Journal of Management and Planning Research, vol. 2, no. 1, 2025, pp. 110-121.
Chicago
Saint, Andrew. "Heat Vulnerability, Everyday Thermal Exposure, and Local Adaptation Planning in a Mediterranean Mass-Tourism Municipality." Journal of Management and Planning Research 2, no. 1 (2025): 110-121. https://doi.org/10.66033/jmpr2025-210
Harvard
Saint, A., Ahmad, N., 2025. Heat Vulnerability, Everyday Thermal Exposure, and Local Adaptation Planning in a Mediterranean Mass-Tourism Municipality. Journal of Management and Planning Research, 2(1), pp.110-121.
Vancouver
Saint A, Ahmad N. Heat Vulnerability, Everyday Thermal Exposure, and Local Adaptation Planning in a Mediterranean Mass-Tourism Municipality. Journal of Management and Planning Research. 2025;2(1):110-121.