Making Exeter cooler

We want to make Exeter cooler! Not just in the super cool science centre we want to create, but through working with local communities to make their spaces more climate resilient, via nature-based solutions (including planting trees and the clever use of plants).

Trees and plants don’t just provide cooling by shading – they cool the local area through transpiration, and can provide lots of added benefits too, such as increasing biodiversity, reducing flood risk, capturing pollution and reducing noise.

We’re currently applying for funding to pilot this project with target communities in Exeter. In future, we would like to expand to other locations, with a broader remit of running community-led projects which tackle the local effects of global issues (including accessibility, food security and air pollution). Stay tuned for more developments soon!

Project background

Did you spot the land surface temperature ‘heat map’ of Exeter in our climate exhibition (below)? It’s also featuring in our current major project Our World From Space, where we exploring how these images are made using infrared imaging – and how we can use these images to guide how we can adapt to the effects of climate change (extreme heat, flooding, as well as biodiversity loss). We can make a difference in our own outdoor spaces!

We’d like to explore how this kind of satellite data can inform why – and where – communities should plant trees and other vegetation in their local area, and work with them to make a really awesome, science-informed project on it, bringing in the help of local researchers and other relevant experts, but with communities at the helm.

Get involved

If you’re part of an Exeter community that might be interested in this, get in touch! We’re trying to make sure our limited resources make as great a difference as possible, so we’re focusing on communities who meet our criteria for disadvantage. However, if your community is already doing great things in this area (and can offer advice or inspiration), or you’re part of a community who might like to get involved in future, we’d love to hear from you.

If you love what we do and want to support this project or our work more broadly, here’s how you can support us!