Amsterdam Experiment: 'fake trees' against heat stress

Shade makers can look different: from a large sun sail to a steel frame with climbing plants in the shape of a tree, which also generates shade. It is not about plastic fake trees, but about 'sustainable, easy to move objects that contribute to the liveability of the environment.'

Another example is the modular tree from urban developer The Urban Jungle Project, which is part of the two-year trial. This elm is real, and is in an above-ground, movable container that allows the tree to collect water, grow well and requires little maintenance.

Simply planting trees is not possible everywhere. Many city soils are full of cables, pipes or underground parking garages, which means there is no room for the roots of trees.

Municipalities must give trees enough space to grow, for this root bunkers are needed: underground structures that provide space for the root system. But in many places there is no space for these bunkers, and therefore no space for the tree.

In Amsterdam alone, there are over eighty places where it can get dangerously hot during a heat wave. The Oosterdokskade near Amsterdam Central Station is even called a 'heat street', a stone quay where the sun shines all day and where there is hardly any shade. The perceived temperature there can rise to more than 40 degrees in the summer.

These extreme temperatures lead to heat stress: health complaints caused by high temperatures. Think of heart problems, headaches and other physical discomfort.

According to research institute TNO, an average of forty extra people die per day during heat waves, resulting in a 12 percent increase in the mortality rate.

Due to petrification, the heat in the city remains more. According to the KNMI, it is on average up to 7 degrees warmer in cities, and due to a lack of greenery there is hardly any natural cooling.

"It's getting incredibly hot in the city," says alderman Melanie van der Horst during the opening of the tree project. "We need to cool down by means of shade and greening, this innovation is badly needed for that."

To investigate how the city can still become cooler and greener, Amsterdam opened the Shadow Makers project on Tuesday. On Oosterdokseiland, one of the hottest spots in the city, the municipality, together with five different entrepreneurs and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, presented cooling designs that are part of the test pilot.

In addition to the trees mentioned, a green pergola will also provide shelter from the heat in the coming period. These are all solutions that are easy to move and reuse.

The municipality hopes to find solutions that can be used in the future at locations where a lot of heat stress is experienced and where greening is not simply possible, both inside and outside Amsterdam.