Summer heatwaves and travel behaviour adaptation in temperate climate conditions

Source abstract

Heatwaves have emerged as a pressing environmental and public health issue, including in historically temperate regions poorly acclimatized to extreme heat. Despite this urgency, little is known about the social processes shaping heat exposure and limiting people’s capacities to adapt. Focusing on England, this paper examines travel behaviour adaptations to summer heatwaves from 2007–2019 and the heat-vulnerability factors shaping responses. A multi-level modelling approach links England’s National Travel Survey with ERA5 climate reanalysis data to examine patterns of stay-home and medical-trip behaviour. Overall, people tend to shelter at home during extreme heatwaves yet are slightly more active during moderate ones. Distinguishing across heat-vulnerability factors, people with manual/routine occupational backgrounds are less likely to shelter at home during extreme heatwaves, older individuals tend to remain more active during moderate heatwaves while those with mobility difficulties are more likely to withdraw into their homes, and medical services tend to be sought more by home renters and less by non-White individuals during extreme heatwaves. This study highlights how wide-ranging social factors condition people’s exposure and adaptive responses to summer heatwaves in temperate climate conditions.