Evidence use and exchange in two urban heat adaptation networks in Europe

Urban adaptation depends not only on the availability of evidence, but on how diverse actors interact to create, mobilise and use it in practice. While knowledge brokering is often associated with dedicated intermediary organisations, this study shows that evidence use and exchange in cities emerge as a distributed, relational process in urban governance networks. Focusing on heat adaptation in Barcelona (Spain) and Hamburg (Germany), we analyse how knowledge brokering activities are performed across interacting actors during heat governance processes. Drawing on 40 semi-structured interviews and document analysis, we find that no single actor performs all activities; instead, activities are distributed across connected actors spanning public administration, research, civil society, and professional organisations. These decentralised configurations enable evidence use even in the absence of formal processes. By operationalising a network perspective on evidence use, the study identifies alternative entry points for evidence thereby strengthening science-policy interfaces in urban adaptation.