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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Int J Public Health
Volume 70 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/ijph.2025.1608083
This article is part of the Special Issue MITIGATING AND ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE: EVIDENCE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH View all 12 articles

Community use and perceptions of climate shelters in schoolyards in Barcelona

Marta Sanz-Mas Marta Sanz-Mas 1,2Xavier Continente Xavier Continente 1,3,4*Marc Marí-Dell'Olmo Marc Marí-Dell'Olmo 1,3,4María José López María José López 1,2,3,4
  • 1 Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
  • 2 Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut (DCEXS), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
  • 3 Consorcio de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiologia y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
  • 4 Institut de Recerca Sant Pau (IR SANT PAU), Barcelona, Spain

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objectives: This study explores the use and perceptions of thermal comfort and well-being among the local community in the schoolyards in Barcelona that had been transformed into accessible climate shelters. Methods: We conducted a qualitative evaluation through a spontaneous ethnographic approach, combining 22 non-participant observations in the 11 transformed schoolyards with brief spontaneous interviews with 76 users and 18 caretakers who supervised the schoolyards during non-school days (June-July 2022). We conducted a thematic content analysis. We analyzed user characteristics, thermal comfort and well-being, activities and differences by age and gender, social behavior, additional benefits, and areas for improvement. Results: Adapted schoolyards were mostly visited by families and groups of adolescents with a higher proportion of boys. Participants reported that shade provided coolness and comfort, vegetation offered pleasant and naturalized environments, and water features were enjoyed for their cooling capacity and play opportunities. Schoolyards were mainly used as places for outdoor recreation and socialization. Conclusion: This study provides policymakers with evidence to support the transformation of schoolyards into climate shelters, creating comfortable outdoor recreational areas for the surrounding urban community.

    Keywords: Climate change adaptation, community, schools, thermal comfort, Urban Health

    Received: 24 Oct 2024; Accepted: 20 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Sanz-Mas, Continente, Marí-Dell'Olmo and López. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xavier Continente, Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.