Princes Circus Redevelopment
Princes Circus Redevelopment: How Urban Green Spaces Could Help us Beat the Heat
By this point, it seems almost ludicrous to deny that climate change is exacerbating the heatwaves we see across the world; with the recent widespread reporting on heat-related deaths from the record-breaking summer of last year, there are now few who fail to recognise this as fact.
What appears to get less attention, however, is the disproportionate impact heatwaves have on our towns and cities. As a result of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, a phenomenon whereby urban areas see much higher temperatures than places in more rural districts, cities such as London are more likely to bear the brunt of climate change.
The UHI, first identified by proto-climatologist Luke Howard in the early 1800s, acts as a result of our cities containing a greater amount of more heat-absorbent surfaces like tarmac and concrete, as opposed to trees or shrubs which are more likely to reflect the Sun’s rays back. Evidently, the impact of the UHI will be much more acute in a concrete jungle, such as London, where temperatures can soar more than 10°C higher than those recorded in surrounding areas. According to one study published in 2016, the UHI contributed to approximately 50% of total heat-related mortality during the 2003 heatwave in the West Midlands, demonstrating the greater intensity and impact of heatwaves within cities.
Urban rejuvenation to the rescue
However, the UHI is a challenge that can certainly be addressed through city-wide adaptation measures, which is slowly being demonstrated across London. Under the West End Project, a £35 million scheme developed and launched by Camden Council to deliver improvements to Camden’s West End, several parts of the local area were rejuvenated into greener, more pedestrian-friendly public spaces.
The project finally closed, after years of planning and construction, just last July with the completion of the Princes Circus redevelopment and its opening to the public. Sitting at the intersection between High Holborn, Shaftesbury Avenue, and New Oxford Street, this phase of the project sought to overhaul the area around an underutilised street and unappealing electricity substation. Here, they stripped out the tarmac road and replaced it by creating a new public space, sporting wide pedestrian routes, cycle paths, innovative seating at the heart of the square, alongside distinctive planting (including tree cover) to really turn this into a greener heart of the local area.
And the touted community benefits of this redevelopment, amongst a handful of others across Camden, have the potential to be huge.
Those overseeing this project were quick to point out the improvements in terms of the availability of a new public space, reduced congestion on London’s roads, and improved access for pedestrians and cyclists.
“Removing sections of Shaftesbury Avenue and Bloomsbury Street has transformed Princes Circus from a constrained, polluted, and unloved West End space, hemmed in by fast-moving roads, into a new type of city square that will support residents, visitors, and local businesses, including the neighbouring Shaftesbury Theatre”. These were the words of Tim South, Lead Associate on the project, upon inaugurating the opening of Princes Circus.
However, what appeared to be lacking was a full recognition of the ways this redevelopment and projects like it could possibly impact the local area in terms of resilience to warmer temperatures.
Aerial view of Princes Circus (Google Maps)
A solution in the trees?
The planting of trees and shrubs at Princes Circus, alongside sister sites at Alfred Place Gardens and Whitfield Gardens nearby, could contribute to reducing the overall temperatures recorded in London, particularly during heatwaves when the mercury can soar.
According to research published earlier this year from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, increasing the level of tree cover within urban areas would aid in both reducing average temperatures as well as limit heat-related deaths. By conducting a first-of-its-kind modelling of 93 European cities, the international team of researchers were able to predict that, by increasing overall tree cover from the European average of 14.9% to 30%, this would allow cities to cool by approximately 0.4°C.
Whilst it would appear to us that this seems a relatively paltry reward for doubling the total green cover within a city, the same study demonstrated that this same cooling would also reduce heat-related deaths by around 39.5%.
Tamara Iungman, herself based at the Barcelona-based institute, shared her views: “This is becoming increasingly urgent as Europe experiences more extreme temperature fluctuations caused by climate change. We already know that high temperatures in urban environments are associated with negative health outcomes, such as cardiorespiratory failure, hospital admission, and premature death.”
City-wide thinking
This goes to show that policies around urban planning, much like those under the West End Project, that allow for green cover to be boosted across our cities could be one of the strongest bulwarks against the worst effects of climate change and the resulting heatwaves. Through some relatively cheap policies, which would require very little change to existing town planning and infrastructure, cities could make themselves far more robust in the face of a warming climate. This would also have the secondary benefit of removing pollution from our cities, limiting the associated health impacts associated with poor air quality.
And with regards to urban green spaces, time is very much of the essence. According to one report published back in 2017, the amount of urban green space within England declined from 63% to 56% between 2001 and 2016. Hence, if the current trends continue, the effects of the UHI in our cities will only worsen.
Therefore, we at Shade the UK are calling on both national and local authorities to develop and enact policy changes to improve our urban green spaces to ensure climate resilience, including:
Ensuring green spaces as part of all housing developments – prioritise the development and accessibility of green spaces close to residential areas.
Undertaking planting of trees across cities – tree planting is a relatively cheap solution that requires little overall adjustment to infrastructure, be this on our streets or in parks.
Investing in rooftop vegetation – investing in green roofing across cities will allow for the UHI effect to be mitigated, by actively blocking the Sun’s rays from hitting concrete buildings.
The rejuvenation of urban green spaces may be one of our most undervalued tools for protecting our cities against the damage caused by heatwaves. It is therefore paramount that both local and national authorities take on urban greening projects, such as the West End Project, to keep our urban residents safe as our climate continues to warm.
Written by Oliver Longstaff
