Cooltorise Final Event and Project Meeting in Madrid
Cooltorise project organized its final event in Madrid on the 23rd of May, 2024. The topic of the event was “Summer is coming. Urban initiatives and public policies to mitigate the impact of heat”. The event brought together policymakers, researchers, students, CSOs, and administration representatives to share the key findings and conclusions of the project and engage in discussions with other relevant initiatives.
Prominent speakers not only from Cooltorise, but also from other EU initiatives took part in it. The event commenced with the opening and the presentation of the Health and Climate Change Observatory (Observatorio de Salud y Cambio Climático), by Hector Tejero, Head of Health and Climate Change in the Cabinet of the Minister for Health.
The Project Manager at ECODES, Javier Tobías González, who has been collaborating on political advocacy efforts and projects related to energy poverty, energy rehabilitation, and urban regeneration, talked about the recently revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.
Dr. Carmen Sánchez–Guevara, from the Habitat, Energy and Architecture in Transition (HEAT) group of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Project Manager of Cooltorise, shared the lessons learned from the project, leading to a discussion on policy recommendations in the first Round Table.
European stakeholders like Eduardo de Santiago Rodríguez, Technical Advisor – Subdirectorate of Urban Policies, MITMA; Aitana Alguacil Denche, European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN); Nives della Valle, Scientific Project Officer, Joint Research Center at the European Commission; and Cecilia Foronda Diez, head of the Energy and People Area at ECODES and member of the Alliance for the housing rehabilitation to leave no one behind (AXRVSDNA), were part of this discussion.
Another Round Table was organized in the afternoon session with presentations of innovative urban initiatives aimed at mitigating the effects of summer heat. CartujaQanat from Sevilla, EPIU from Getafe, Patios x el clima from Aragon and Valencia Clima i Energia were the four projects that shared their experiences.
The first day concluded with an opportunity for participants to visit an outdoor intervention of a climatic shelter made in the context of COOLTORISE project in Madrid. It represents a refugees camp, managed by “Asociación Familias Para la Acogida”, and located in the Madrid neighbourhood “San Blas-Canillejas”.
The second day was dedicated to a project partners’ meeting, where the project partners discussed the finalization of project activities during the remaining 3 months of the project.
