Facing the heat: How Cities in Bangladesh are Tackling Urban Heat Risk
This article highlights how Bangladeshi cities are at the forefront of tackling the growing threat of urban heat. Based on their experience with local governments, Vassiliki Kravva and Viktoria Pues share three essential principles to help cities everywhere build resilience against rising temperatures.
The World Meteorological Organisation declared 2024 the hottest year on record globally. This continues a decade of record-breaking temperatures (WMO 2025). Climate change is not only driving a steady rise in global mean temperatures but also making extreme weather events, especially heatwaves, more frequent and severe. While this is a global challenge, tropical countries are experiencing the most extreme combinations of high temperatures and humidity, with low- and middle-income countries bearing the brunt despite having limited means to respond. (IPPC 2023).
Extreme heat is already having serious consequences for public health and economic productivity. Between 2000 and 2019, heat contributed to an estimated half a million deaths worldwide, though many were never officially reported (Ballester et al. 2021). The most vulnerable population groups are low-income families, young children and babies, the elderly, pregnant women, and people who work outside.
A Hotter Future: Temperature Records and Their Consequences
Bangladesh is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries. It faces a mix of complex climate hazards — monsoon-related flooding, tropical cyclones, drought, sea-level rise, and, increasingly, extreme heat (WB 2021). In Bangladesh, nearly half the workforce is employed in outdoor jobs, with minimal protection against heat. High temperatures lead to reduced productivity and mounting economic losses.
In Dhaka alone, heat-related losses already amount to eight per cent of the city’s GDP and are projected to rise to ten per cent by 2050 (Atlantic Council 2023). The growing risk of extreme heat threatens to slow down Bangladesh’s rapid economic development and transition to a middle-income country (World Bank 2022).
Looking ahead, heat risks in Bangladesh are only set to intensify. Since 2000, average temperatures have climbed significantly and will continue to rise across all climate scenarios. In April 2024, an extreme heat wave killed at least 10 people and forced the closure of schools, disrupting the education of 33 million children. By 2025, the entire country will be affected by dangerous heat index days, with the western regions facing the greatest threat due to their inland location and topography (see Figure 1 for projected changes).
Source: AtkinsRéalis analysis based on CMIP6 data, BMD climate station data and WorldCLIM. Spatial pattern downscaling using Support Vector Model and temporal adjustment to match BMD observations. Analysis was part of the World Bank’s Technical Assistance Program on low carbon and resilient urban development in Bangladesh financed by the City Climate Finance Gap Fund project.
Analysis was part of the World Bank’s Technical Assistance Program on low-carbon and resilient urban development in Bangladesh, financed by the City Climate Finance Gap Fund project.
Bangladesh’s urban areas are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat. Cities tend to be significantly warmer than their rural surroundings – a phenomenon known as the Urban Heat Island effect. Temperatures in urban centres can be up to 10°C higher due to heat-absorbing infrastructure like asphalt and concrete, as well as reduced vegetation (Alonzo et al. 2021).
Human activity, including traffic, industrial processes, and air conditioning, further exacerbates urban heat. Limited green space and poor urban planning compound the issue. Informal settlements where housing quality and service provision are lacking are especially prone to be heat vulnerability hotspots. AtkinsRealis’ analysis of district-level vulnerability and heat exposure data reveals that Dhaka, Khulna, Chattogram and Gazipur have the highest proportion of people living in informal settlements with medium to medium-high climate vulnerability.
Bangladesh’s cities are already leading the way in addressing urban heat risk. The country has a climate adaptation policy framework in place, including a National Adaptation Plan from 2022. While past efforts focused mainly on flood resilience, heat has emerged as a priority and needs to be integrated across all policy levels. In 2024, the RIMES and Save the Children initiative launched a Heatwave Warning Portal, offering localised forecasts and community tools to communicate heat risk. As part of the Cool Roof Initiative, Dhaka has tested reflective cool roofs, cutting indoor temperatures by over 7°C, including in informal settlements. Dhaka North has appointed the first Chief Heat Officer to better integrate heat issues across sector silos. Rajshahi is working with partners such as the Red Cross Red Cresent Climate Centre, ICLEI, and the World Bank to identify heat hotspots and craft urban resilience strategies.
Three Principles for Beating Urban Heat in Bangladesh
To build on this momentum, three principles can guide urban heat risk action in Bangladesh and beyond.
First, understanding heat risk locally is essential to make informed decisions. Heat risk highly depends on the local climate, how specific neighbourhoods are built, and the coping capacity of the population, influenced by socio-economic, physical and cultural factors. However, detailed data on all these factors are often missing, especially in cities of the Global South. Open source analytic tools, for example, Global Surface UHI Explorer, offer a starting point for mapping local heat hotspots. Beyond these, customised heat risk assessments can take various forms depending on available resources. They can be data-driven, combining remote sensing data on land surface temperature, building footprints, land cover types, green spaces, and urban growth dynamics with local weather station and census data. Climate models can then be used to create risk maps that effectively communicate threats.
Alternatively, they can take a participatory approach, where residents of high-risk neighbourhoods identify hotspots based on lived experience, raising awareness in the process. It’s critical to create a spatial understanding of heat risk for an urban area to make informed planning decisions. The approach to achieving this can be flexible.
Secondly, heat risk should be integrated into all aspects of urban planning to maximise synergies. While policymakers have focused on emergency response to heatwaves, long-term resilience requires a strategic approach. Heat affects many areas of urban issues, including air quality, water supply, public health services, building/planning regulations, and food security, to name a few. Successful heat management requires collaboration across sector departments and levels of government. Mainstreaming heat risk considerations into local regulations, strategic development plans, and ongoing infrastructure developments is key.
And thirdly, design integrated place-based solutions. There are many effective ways to adapt to and reduce heat risk, such as urban greening initiatives, energy-efficient buildings, cool roofs, and shading of public spaces. It is important to focus interventions on risk hotspots, where heat hazard, exposure, and vulnerability are highest. Within these areas, place-based integrated solutions are needed that combine various heat mitigation and adaptation strategies, thereby unlocking co-benefits. We’ve learned from cities like Barcelona that neighbourhoods with reduced traffic and attractive infrastructure for walking and cycling, shaded public green spaces, use of cooler materials for buildings, streets, and infrastructure, with public water features are not just cooler but more liveable overall.
Extreme heat is a growing threat, but with targeted action, better planning, and community involvement, cities like those in Bangladesh can become more resilient and liveable for everyone.
