Beyond temperature: How people experience urban heat
Urban heat is more than a matter of temperature. It can affect how people sleep, work, travel through the city and dress, and even how safe or comfortable they feel in public spaces. Yet these everyday consequences often remain invisible in conventional assessments of urban heat.
This summer in Europe, particularly in Germany, has shown how dramatic the effects of heat waves can be—ranging from reduced quality of life and enormous economic damage to a high number of heat-related deaths .
A new study by an interdisciplinary team from the University of Würzburg, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Mendel University in Brno (Czechia) examines the human dimension of urban heat, using Mexico City in 2022 as a case study. The paper is published in the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing .
The study combines satellite observations, weather station measurements, urban spatial structures, census data and geolocated social media posts to understand how and where heat affects residents. It demonstrates the value of interdisciplinary research: Combining remote sensing, linguistics, digital humanities and geography enables a more spatially and thematically nuanced examination of heat. The study was conducted within the field of Geolingual Studies, currently being developed at JMU Würzburg.
Heat affects many aspects of everyday urban life
The researchers found a clear threshold. The study's lead author, Dr. Richard Lemoine-Rodríguez, explains: "Once air temperatures exceeded 25°C (77°F), heat-related social media posts from Mexico City increased exponentially, showing that heat becomes a public concern above this threshold. Additionally, we found that more heat-related posts were shared from hotter and more densely built parts of Mexico City."
"What people discussed online showed that heat affects many dimensions of everyday life. The most common issue was health problems and heat stress, with users describing fatigue, insomnia, physical discomfort and emotional distress. Working conditions and clothing were another prominent concern: People described insufficient cooling infrastructure and reported that they were not allowed to wear shorts at work despite extreme heat, and in some cases argued that work should stop under those conditions," Lemoine-Rodríguez says.
Women also described unwanted attention and harassment when wearing lighter clothes to cope with high temperatures, turning this adaptation strategy into a distressing experience for them.
Professor Carolin Biewer explains other findings: "Other posts focused on public transit and infrastructure, including delays, uncomfortable journeys and insufficient ventilation or air conditioning. Users also described having to choose between exposure to heat and air pollution. If they were to open a window to cool down, they would at the same time be forced to inhale polluted air."
Discussion also included cooling areas and air conditioning, as well as concerns about birds, pets and other animals needing water. Some posts connected the heat with broader concerns about social inequality and climate change.
From measured to experienced heat
Professor Hannes Taubenböck emphasizes, "Satellites and weather stations can tell us where it is hot and how hot it is. But they cannot reveal whether people cannot sleep, struggle to work, feel unsafe or suffer during their daily commute. This is the central idea behind the study: moving from measured to experienced heat."
By combining physical measurements with social media data, the authors identified not only where heat occurs but also the concrete problems it creates in people's daily lives.
The study therefore points toward a more human-centered approach to climate adaptation, in which temperature maps are complemented by information about people's experiences and needs.
"To adapt cities to increasing heat, it is not enough to know how hot they are. We also need to understand what that heat means for people," Taubenböck says.
