From emergency shelters to urban climate shelters: enabling conditions for long-term climate adaptation

As cities face increasingly frequent climate extremes, emergency-oriented responses alone cannot address the conditions that shape urban vulnerability. This paper examines the governance and planning conditions required to implement Urban Climate Shelters (UCS) as long-term climate adaptation infrastructure. UCS represent a shift from reactive sheltering toward preventive urban adaptation. The paper proposes an interconnected framework spanning institutional, spatial, social, financial, and learning dimensions. While UCS can reduce heat stress and strengthen social resilience, they are not inherently effective or equitable. Their success depends on integrated governance, long-term investment, inclusive participation, context-sensitive implementation, and the alignment of enabling conditions across scales.